Chronicles of Fenix the Echidna
by Dark-Infinities
Summary: Twenty-five years have passed and an unknown threat to Mobius approaches and the logs of an unconscious echidna holds the answers to their identity. Join the heroes of Mobius as they explore a part of history that had been eclipsed by their own battles with the Eggman Empire.
1. Darkness Rising - Part 1

**Disclaimer: Sonic the Hedgehog and all official characters that are mentioned belong to SEGA and Archie Comics. Fenix the Echidna, Spectre and Chiron belong to me.**

 **A/N:** Originally I intended not to have a pairing of official characters, however, I decided to go ahead anyway, for those interested and to warn readers who are against certain pairings, the pairing is primarily Shadow and Sally, Antoine and Bunnie, Tails and Zooey for the moment. To help ease some nerves, Sonic and Sally were married at one point and Shadow and Amy did date as well. If you have any questions or comments, I will endeavour to answer them, however, please leave your hate at the door.

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 **Chronicles of Fenix the Echidna**

 **Darkness Rising - Part 1**

Twenty-five years have passed since the defeat of the evil tyrant Doctor Eggman and the destruction of Space Colony Ark, with one of the greatest threats to the peace and security to Mobius out of the way, the governments and heroes of the world have focused on rebuilding what had been destroyed and seeking out new adventures in space exploration. However, not everything is as peaceful as it may seem, for in the darkened corners of the universe where light refuse to travel, an ancient enemy has steadily been gaining its strength and has descended on the denizens of the Milky Way galaxy. It is 25 After Ark Fall and the fate of all life hangs in the balance.

 **Opening – Final Frontier by Thomas Bergersen**

High above the home world of the well-known hero, Sonic the Hedgehog, a brand new station orbited high above and acted as neutral ground for trade, commerce, diplomacy, science and exploration but most importantly as a reclamation center to salvage the remains of the Space Colony ARK and the various space junk that still orbited the planet since before the Great War, the name of this giant space borne structure is High Sanctuary. Aboard the station, it was a time for commemoration as the citizens of Mobius had arrived to help remember the sacrifices made to help put an end to the tyranny of Doctor Eggman and while it may not have been the exact date, they were also using this as an opportunity to celebrate the activation of the large satellite and to do this the commander of the station had the A.I. member of the Freedom Fighters, now turned pop idol, to help liven things up a little. One year prior to the final battle with the mad scientist, Nicole had received a bio-mechanical body, which had allowed her the opportunity to find her own path in this new life.

"Like meteors, my tears begin to fall.

I shall hope you'll hear my call.

As I wait for you,

I shall stay true

And continue to give my all.

You're worth the world to me,

I want the universe to see.

Some may call me a fool,

That waiting for you is uncool.

But I believe you're my destiny."

Nicole opened her song to a slow paced rhythm and gently tone before the beat eventually began to speed up and became more energetic. On the edge of the solar system, as the concert went into full swing, a burst of electrical blue energy briefly came into being, before a sleek twenty-three-meter dagger-shaped craft emerged and entered the sector with a damaged hull that had sections exposed to space, leaking atmosphere into the cold vacuum and drifted slowly towards the planet.

"As time goes on, I shall never let you go.

Stars that shone brightly will lose their glow

My heart will never waver, even though I cried

Waiting for the day for you to return to my side.

When you come back to me, my heart is what I'll show.

My love for you is as brilliant and powerful as a nova,

And I'll make sure that what we share will never be over.

My heart will never waver, even though I cried

Waiting for the day for you to return to my side.

Even though you may be far.

To me, you will always be my star

Like a comet across the sky,

My love shall fly high

The one that I'm longing for, that's who you are.

My heart shall never waver

Our time together I shall savor

You're a galaxy away

But here I will stay

Until the day we are together"

Nicole repeated the lyrics once more before the commander of the G.U.N. Space Forces and High Sanctuary approached the stage and the spotlight shone down on him, taking the microphone from the lynx, a black and red-striped hedgehog cleared his throat before speaking. "Thank you Nicole, for that performance." He gave her a curt nod before turning to the audience. "I'm not one for long speeches so I'll keep this short. Today we are here to commemorate the destruction of the Ark and the defeat of Doctor Eggman." He was about to reveal the monument, when he was interrupted.

"This day is also a time to reflect on the sacrifices made in the battle and also we celebrate fifteen years of the station, which to some have become a home, being operational. allow us to present to you the High Sanctuary Memorial Park." Queen Sally nodded to the G.U.N. commander and they placed their hands on top of a large red button and pressed it together, illuminating the green area with soft light, which also included a large and ornate fountain in the center of the park and even had some Chao that had been carefully transported into space. Once everyone had a chance to take in the sight, the inhabitants and the guests all clapped and began dispersing soon after, talking amongst each other, returning to the departure lounge to go back to the surface or to their cabin to turn in for the night

Shadow stood in silence as the turbolift ascended towards its destination of main operations as he listened to his step-daughter talk about what was going on in the Republic of the Kingdom of Acorn. back on Mobius in great detail. Roughly eighteen years ago before Sonia and Manic had been born and even before Sally had known she was pregnant, Sonic had left his role as King as he had felt that the role was suffocating and he didn't feel comfortable staying in one place with all of the responsibility that came with his title, after this had happened the chipmunk had turned to the G.U.N. agent for support. During a period in Mobius #29's history, Shadow had acted as a bodyguard to Sally Acorn as she sought to strengthen the ties between the Federation and the Republic of the Kingdom of Acorn and had eventually become one of her closest friends and confidants, at first the thought of marriage hadn't even come up, however, she had to secure her position and both had agreed that it would be better than leaving it up to a line of possible suitors and help reinforce the ties between the Federation and her Kingdom. After they had tied the knot, Shadow knew that he wouldn't make the best King and that he would just get in the way of the Queen, so he left the stately affairs to Sally, while he decided to continue to protect Mobius as a Commander within G.U.N.'s new line of defence. Once they had reached operations, both of them were excited at the sight before them however Manic was the only one that made a sound "Whoa! This is cool! What does this do? Hey what about this? Am I doing anything?" He darted about the area pushing buttons on the various consoles, using his supersonic speed.

"Manic! Slow down, you're annoying everyone! Father brought us up here to look around!" Sonia tried to get Manic to stop pushing buttons and was afraid that he might accidentally put the station out of orbit.

Shadow placed a hand on the young chipmunk's shoulder. "I accounted for this, everything has been rerouted to engineering, all he can do is use the food synthesisers." He stated calmly to his step-daughter, letting her know that it was all right. Both of them were taken aback by the stink eye that they had received from Manic.

"HE'S NOT MY DAD!" The blue hedgehog had shouted and ran for the lift on the other side of the room, the staff on duty looked at Shadow and then at the ground, feeling sorry for the dark hedgehog at the attitude that the step child had shown him.

Sonia was about to say something to reassure Shadow, however, he just shook his head in response. "It's fine. I don't expect him to accept me nor am I going to force it." He said coolly, earning a sympathetic look from the princess.

Back at the park stage, in the dressing rooms, Sally had decided to catch up with Nicole and see how she was doing. "Come in! Sally!" The lynx said after a knock on her door and was surprised when she saw her friend standing at the entrance to the dressing room and greeted her with a friendly hug.

"Hi Nicole, how are you?" The chipmunk asked and took a step back, after being released from the embrace.

The A.I. that was once restricted to a holographic former walked over to the mirror and sat down and began to comb her jet black hair. "I'm fine Sally, really I am. Sonic says hi and that he misses you." The lynx noticed the hurt look on the chipmunk's face and decided to follow it up. "Amy says hi too, to both you and Shadow..." Her voice trailed off, knowing that it only helped to alleviate the tension ever-so-slightly. After Sonic had decided to continue playing hero on Bygone Island, Amy had decided to end her relationship with Shadow in order to make sure that Sonic would be all right on his own, and knowing full well that the 'Blue Streak' would find some way to get himself into trouble and with the maturity of an eight-year-old, he needed someone to look out for him and felt that it was her duty to do so, even if Sonic had originally chosen Sally. While Shadow had been hurt by the decision, he didn't stand in Amy's way and allowed her to follow her decision through.

The queen of the Republic of the Kingdom of Acorn mused for a moment, taking a seat on a sofa. "Is everything really all right Nicole?" She pried.

The pop idol looked at the dressing table and grimaced as her thoughts turned back to the ceremony and dwelled on the meaning of the day. "I just…I never really liked this day, it brings up bad memories." She had a look of hurt on her features as she thought of the events that led up to this current stage of relative peace and how she managed to get to where she was today.

Sally knew what she was getting at and walked over, placing a hand on the lynx's shoulder. "I understand and I am sorry." Nicole turned around in her seat and hugged her friend tightly, after what seemed like a long while, the two let go of each other. "I should go and see if Manic and Sonia are okay…well I want to check and see that Manic hasn't had one of his tantrums." She patted the lynx's hand and made her way over to the door and glanced back. "I'll come back to see how you are doing. Okay?" Nicole gave her a curt nod and watched as her longtime friend disappeared into the passage way and was left to her own thoughts, stretching out a hand she touched the mirror and her ears drooped from a feeling of sorrow, as she recalled how she got her current body.

Once arriving in main operations, Queen Sally Acorn looked around main operations, surveying the area in an attempt to spot her son, however, all she saw was her daughter and husband. "Where's Manic? He hasn't had one of his tantrums has he?" She asked them both, knowing full well that was exactly what had happened.

Sonia looked away from her mother, feeling guilty. "We got an update from security, he's at Chuck's Star Dogs in the commercial district." Shadow replied, without taking his eyes off of the main screen. "Satellites near Saturn spotted this craft entering the system, just in case it is hostile, I quietly put our forces on alert to avoid causing a panic and I have evacuation shuttles ready, should the worse happen." He stated calmly to his queen, keeping her updated on what was happening.

Sally nodded in approval as she turned to look at the large screen hanging from the ceiling and at the image that it displayed. "There's a 'but' isn't there?" She asked briefly glancing to the dark hedgehog.

It was his turn to nod in affirmation and he fixed his eyes on the chipmunk. "It's displaying an I.F.F. code that hasn't been used for twenty-five years." That caught Sally's attention. "It's the old it's the old identification of friend or foe code that was used by the _Letter of Gabriel_ during the last battle with Eggman." He stated matter-of-factually and walked over to the science station to view the long range sensors.

The queen of the Republic of the Kingdom of Acorn pondered, Shadow's words carefully but wound up shaking her head, unable to come to a conclusion. "Who'd have access to something that would be buried within G.U.N.'s archives? Why use an I.F.F. that isn't even being used?" She followed the hedgehog over the alcove and looked over his shoulders, crowding the officer that was working at the station.

"The ship will enter optimum scanning range of our satellites in thirty-two minutes." The officer at the science station reported to the two people that were hovering over her shoulder.

Sally and Shadow backed off and decided to head to the station commander's office with Sonia in tow, to wait for the results of the scan on the strange vessel that had entered the system. "So why did he run off this time?" Sally asked her husband and daughter, wanting to know exactly what had set Manic off running.

"I referred to Shadow as our father." The younger chipmunk bowed her head, accepting full responsibility for her actions, even if she saw nothing wrong with what she had said, with Sonic playing hero on Bygone Island, Shadow had been more of a father figure to the both of them and treated them like they were his children, however, after learning that the dark hedgehog wasn't his biological father, Manic had been acting like a child ever since the discovery and wanted nothing to do with the Ultimate Lifeform anymore.

The queen pinched the ridge of her nose and let out a sigh before speaking. "He's overreacting again…I can't blame him for wanting to know more about Sonic, but he doesn't have to act like him." She said dejectedly, taking a seat in front of Shadow's, jet black desk.

The hedgehog leaned against the surface "I can't really blame him for acting the way he does, he feels lost, confused and betrayed." Had stated, taking Manic's side, understanding full well the feelings that the young hedgehog was experiencing at this moment, however, he had handled things differently that the son of the 'Hero of Mobius' but nonetheless did sympathize with the young speedster.

Sally smiled affectionately "Of course you wouldn't. Even though our marriage was primarily politically driven and seem to put up a strong front, you are gentle at heart and thoughtful too." She teased playfully, which caused the dark hedgehog to look away with a blush on his muzzle and she giggled at his expense.

Shadow promptly brushed the comment and her giggling aside before continuing. "In any regard, it is best to wait until he cools down before approaching him and addressing his behaviour. Let him know that he can come to you with any problems that he might have." The Ultimate Lifeform advised, even though he knew full well that Manic had a problem with him.

Auburn haired mobian woman looked down as she played with her fingers, feeling bad for her spouse and still believed that her son's actions were inexcusable. "You've been nothing but a good father to both Manic and Sonia, I just don't see a reason for him to act this way." She said in defeat.

"There is nothing that can be done until he actually opens up to us." He stated, "For now, all we can do is wait for him." The hedgehog walked over to the chipmunk and raised her chin slightly and gazed lovingly into her cerulean blue eyes, letting her know that he didn't mind the current situation at all and that he is willing to be patient with his step-son.

"Oh…you" She got up and wrapped her arms around the hedgehog in a tight embrace, while she had been enamored by Sonic's carefree attitude and his like any princess in a fairytale, fallen in love with the hero, the fact that he was always looking for the next big adventure and on the run, had taken its toll on her and she wanted to slow down and wanted something a little more stable, unfortunately the blue speedster had proven that he wasn't able to provide that. Even though Shadow was able to keep up with Sonic, he was willing to maintain an even pace with her and was proving to be more reliable.

Sonia rolled her eyes, at the affection that the two were sharing "Mother…" She complained.

Her mother removed one arm from Shadow and stood at his side. "Once you find someone, you'll understand." The queen replied to her daughter.

Shadow was about to ask Sally how was the Kingdom holding up, when the science officer paged the commander of the space station that she had the scan that he had wanted. "We'll have to pick this up later." He said and got to his feet and helped his wife to hers before exiting the office. "What do you have for me lieutenant?" The dark hedgehog asked.

"From what I am able to get from initial scans, there appears to be a single lifeform on board and judging by the shape of silhouette, it appears to be humanoid, it is quite possible that it may be a Mobian." She stated going over the sensor data in front of her. "There also appears to be hazardous levels of hazardous gases in the rear compartments of the vessel and oxygen levels are decreasing at a steady rate, quite possibly due to a fire." She continued.

"I see…" Shadow mused in thought. "Put me through to the Full Prower Workshop's." He turned to the operations officer.

Sally raised an eyebrow at the request. "Why are you contacting Tails?" She wondered.

"The docking bays are currently focused on servicing those that are already docked and those that are waiting to dock." He said to the Chipmunk, "Additionally we have VIPs and dignitaries aboard and I do not want to spread our security too thinly." The hedgehog let her in on his plans.

The auburn haired Mobian smirked in response. "You must have faith in Tail's abilities then."

Shadow just looked up the view screen and didn't remove his gaze from the monitor "If I didn't, I wouldn't be contacting him now." He said plainly, just as the fox's face appeared before them.

"Hey Shadow! Long time, no see. What can I help you with?" He asked his next door neighbour. Full Prower Workshop's being a modest facility, located not too far from High Sanctuary.

He stepped forward into the middle of the operations center and nodded to his science officer to transmit the images that she had taken to Tails' computer. "We have a ship that has just entered the system and his drifting towards Mobius, it is broadcasting an outdated I.F.F. and we can't risk bringing it aboard. I was wondering if you would be able to retrieve the vessel for me, you will be compensated for your efforts of course." Shadow asked the fox, hoping that he would understand that he wasn't in a position to risk the lives of politicians for something that may very well be a trap.

The twin tailed Mobian fox smiled, obviously the hedgehog didn't know him too well. "Do you really think that I'd miss the chance to get a look at some alien technology before G.U.N. does?" He quipped. "Consider it done, Shadow. I'll see you and Sally when you get here." He stated and quickly closed the channel, knowing full well that the commander of High Sanctuary would handle the situation personally and of course the Queen of the Republic of the Kingdom of Acorn would want to get in on the action too.

It didn't take long before two hatches on the top side of the space borne 'workshop' opened to the vacuum and several small drones were launched to intercept the ship that had entered the solar system, knowing full well that the vessel would take years to reach Mobius at its current speed, Tails had prepared for such an occasion and equipped the drones with a miniature Chaos Warp Drive that would allow them to travel to the edge of the system in a blink of an eye, however, at the moment it was only experimental because until now, he had no real reason to even use such devices or the opportunity to do so. "All right! Link to the drones have been established, coordinates are set, core temperatures and power flow is stable. Commencing local warp test in three; two; one! Now!" He shouted and pressed a button at his computer console aboard his home away from home, and the drone's engines grew brighter before the machine's themselves suddenly stretched as they sped off to their destination that was now half way passed the planet of Jupiter.

The damaged ship sparked and twisted in space as the recovery drones eventually arrived at their target, each section that had been exposed to the vacuum of space was sealed off with a force field which revealed that there was indeed parts of the vessel that had internal fires, and not one to through caution to the wind, Tails had one of the drones fly over what looked to be the main cockpit and surveyed the interior, what he saw caused him to taken aback. "No way…" The orange fox gasped "Shadow is going to love this, but this brings up a lot of new questions" He said, bringing a hand under his muzzle in deep thought as questions began to fill his mind and he began thinking up possible answers to them , however, he shook these thoughts from his head, before he got sidetracked completely. "Right, back to the task at hand." Tails then began using the controls for the drones and split the robots into groups of three, where he carefully maneuvered them to latch onto the port and starboard sides of the vessel, before once again using the Chaos Warp Drives to open a portal so that the craft could be transported, two hundred and fifty kilometers away from the Full Prower Workshop and he'd be able to guide the vessel into the docking bay and to begin a closer inspection.

As the drones began moving their payload, a shuttle from High Sanctuary, made its approach to Tails' station and aboard it was the dark hedgehog and his queen, with her children. "Looks like he's bringing it in now." Shadow stated as he glanced out to the starscape on his right.

"Whoa, totally awesome sight." Manic said, looking at the bright vortex in awe. "Totally sick ride too." He was impressed by the sleek design of the alien vessel that was exiting the portal.

As Shadow maneuvered to the secondary, smaller docking bay of the 'workshop', Sally noticed that the doors were wide open and nodded in approval, noting that the fox had been waiting for their arrival. "At least we won't have to announce our arrival." She gestured to the empty landing area.

The hedgehog nodded and set the craft down in the space that had been left for them and waited for the doors of the docking bay to close and for atmosphere in the hangar to be adjusted so that they could exit the shuttle safely. This took about five minutes and they were given an all clear when the red lights in the docking bay turned off. "Let's go." He stated coolly and pressed a button on the side of the exit ramp, leading the family out onto the station and to the main control room, where he'd expect to see Tails waiting for them. Which he'd be proven right, after exploring the facility and finally reaching their destination.

"So what do you think?" The fox asked slyly, unable to keep himself from taking a stab at how Shadow had gotten lost in the workshop. At this point the vessel that had been transported to the small station, was now aligned with the main doors and ready to be guided in.

The dark hedgehog folded his arms across his chest, a sour look on his face. "It would have helped, if you had signs or a map." He said coldly, focusing his gaze on the silver ship.

The chipmunk gave her husband a nudge. "Don't be like that Shadow. You have a nice place here, but it is a bit cluttered, don't you think?" She asked him and all she got from the fox was a shrug.

"I did my own preliminary investigation of the vessel, before I transported it here. There is a fire in the main section of the ship, fire suppression system on board have managed to keep it from damaging the vital systems, however, the CO2 scrubbers and Oxygen plant seems to be sustaining the fires." The inventor stated to the family as he went over his own notes, before turning back to them. "You'll never be able to guess who is aboard either." The fox said enigmatically, which piqued the interest of those present. The craft then landed inside the docking bay and the doors closed and the repressurization process then begun. "Fenix."

Sonia raised an eyebrow "Who?" The daughter of Sonic and Sally asked.

"Someone who we thought had died, saving myself, Tails, Sonic and the planet from Eggman." Shadow turned his head, somewhat shamefully away from the children, as did Tails and Sally. A truth that had been kept hidden or somewhat embellished by the people of Mobius, everyone on the planet had automatically assumed that Sonic was the one that had triumphed over the Doctor and his final solution, however that far from had happened.

Sally placed a hand on her daughter's shoulder. "He was someone that sacrificed himself so that we could be free. From what I've been told, he was bleeding badly and looked sickly, but still managed to bring down the shields on the Super Egg Carrier and stopped Eggman from fleeing before it was taken out by the ARK." Her knowledge of what had happened aboard the Doctor's knowledge was only second hand and were from the reports given to her by Tails, Shadow and Sonic.

"So everyone is believing in a lie and no one thought to correct them?" Manic asked, unimpressed.

Shadow shook his head. "People will believe what they want to believe. To them Sonic is their hero and Eggman was the enemy, they automatically assumed what had happened."

Tails sighed. "It's not like that we didn't try, by the time the news had spread of Eggman's defeat, it was already too late and all we could do was acknowledge the sacrifices made." However even with these words, the children still thought that it was wrong. "Anyway… we're getting distracted. The pressure has equalized, however, I advise not going in until the Firebots have extinguished the flames." The fox stated and sent the robots out to do their assigned task.

The commander of High Sanctuary stood next the inventor and watched the machines go about their duties. "Have your medbots take Fenix to our shuttle, we'll transport him over to the medical facilities aboard the station."

The fox nodded, giving orders to cut the power to the force field on one of the exposed sections, so the interior could be accessed, however, the sudden change in temperature and fresh air created a small fireball, which set off the fire alarms, but Tails was quick off the mark and switched them off as the situation was well under control. It didn't take long for the small orange and red robots to put out the flames inside the ship and to access the main cockpit of the vessel. Once the corridor had been cleared of debris the medbots then rushed in with a stretcher and began examining their patient. _"Patient is an Echidna, Mobian that appears to be in his early twenties and is in a comatose state and there are signs of dehydration, CO_ _2_ poisoning and _blood loss_." A robot stated as two others began transferring the Echidna to the stretcher and transporting it to Shadow's shuttle.

As this was happening the conscious Mobians began to examine the craft more closely, once an access ramp had been located, "I'm impressed, even though there was a roaring fire in here, there doesn't appear to be much damage to any of the surfaces." Tails said and touch the surface of a nearby console "And even with minimal power, systems still be functioning." He was astounded by the craftsmanship that went into the spacecraft and the technology that went into it.

Shadow and Sally nodded in agreement, so far the ship seemed pretty impressive but that didn't answer the question how a Mobian that was supposed to be dead got their hands on an advanced vessel such as this, Sally mulled over this question again and again, while making her way upfront and as she entered the forward compartment, something caught her attention "GUYS!" Almost everyone rushed to the female chipmunk's call. "I think we found the answers to our questions." She brush the grime off of an old and modified G.U.N. Beetle robot.

Tails opened a panel and looked at the machine and shook his head "Chiron is pretty banged up." He brought a gloved hand under his muzzle, the situation looked pretty grim for the Beetle which had been modified with arm attachments. "But I am certain that I can get him up and running again."

"UH! DAD!" Came a cry from down the hall, which caused Manic to twitch out of irritation.

Shadow came running down the hall, to the main section of the ship and went to the starboard side and to what looked like the main living quarters. "What is it Sonia?" He asked in concern, however he glared at the figure before him, when he realized what the younger chipmunk had been concerned about.

She brushed the faceplate "Why does this robot look like you?" Sonia was curious about the red and black machine.

"Spectre and it was a crude attempt by Eggman to make a metal version of me to support Metal Sonic in combat." Shadow said to his step-daughter and she took a few steps back in fear of the machine.

"Nicole, managed to reprogram it by copying some of her own adaptive programming to give it some free will and has since considered her to be its mother, however, for some reason it decided to stay with Fenix." The Sally stated, calming down herself once she realised what the commotion was all about.

The teenaged chipmunk considered the machine once again. "So it's safe?" She asked the group of experienced fighters.

Tails nodded. "If Nicole reprogrammed it, then it is a safe as it can get." He said, confident in the abilities of the A.I. and gave a small nod of her own, agreeing with the fox, while Shadow just folded his arms across his chest, he never liked the cheap imitation that Eggman created, reprogrammed or not.

"We need to get going. Tails, forward me Chiron's and Spectre's memory files on anything that can reveal as to what happened here and how Fenix is still alive. In return I'll keep G.U.N. off of your back while you play with the ship." Shadow began giving out his demands, while giving him first dibs on the alien craft.

While he thought Shadow could have been less brusque about his offer, he appreciated the offer and took him up on it by shaking his hand. "If I find anything, I'll transfer any and all information that pops up." He said and had some utility robots to help move Chiron and Spectre inside the workshop.

Once the shuttle had returned to High Sanctuary, Fenix had been rushed to the hospital and placed under medical supervision as he recovered. "So we have someone that is supposed to be dead but is somehow alive, an alien vessel and a robots that have been placed in standby mode until the former is able to turn them on again." Sally took a seat across from her husband, inside his office and took a sip of tea.

He raised an eyebrow at her statement. "I managed to survive a fall to Mobius, Sonic was whisked away to the other side of the galaxy and presumed dead, then there's the Echidna spirit trapped in the Master Emerald and I could go on with other examples but suffice to say, it is nothing new." Shadow listed off in no particular order.

"Thanks for reminding me." She rolled blue her eyes at his comment. "However, Tails is confident he can access their memory banks." She added.

Before the conversation could continue, there was a chime at the door. "Come!" Shadow called.

"Sorry to be a bother, but I wasn't able to get a hold of Sally." Nicole said as she entered the sparsely decorated office of the station commander.

The chipmunk's eyes widened at statement and placed her tea down before standing up and taking the lynx's hands into her own. "I am so sorry! Please forgive me! Something came up all of a sudden and we needed to see Tails." If she were to give exact details, Sally was afraid that Nicole would worry.

"No, it's all right" Nicole shook her head, letting Sally know that everything was fine. "I just wanted to let you know that I'll be leaving the station soon to continue my tour." The former assistant turned pop idol, informed her friend of her itinerary.

Shadow got up and walked over to his desk and began typing on a hand held, known as a Limited Electronic Data Storage device or L.E.D.S. for short. "We'll let you know when Fenix recovers." He said giving his wife a cursory glance, noticing the surprise and the sour look that she was giving him because he had for mentioning the Echidna.

"What?" Her amber eyes lit up, hoping this wasn't some cruel joke.

He handed her the L.E.D.S. device and she looked it over and she rushed out of the room to the hospital. "Why did you…" Shadow walked over to the chipmunk and placed a finger on her lips.

"You two need time to catch up and it wouldn't be right to keep it from her." His voice was filled with compassion as he wrapped his arms around her waist. "Killing two birds with one stone."

She let out a sigh, while she did not approve of his methods, it was the thought that counted. "Just don't do it again okay." She poked him in the chest before rubbing her nose against his.

The atmosphere was ruined, when Shadow's desk began buzzing from an incoming transmission. "What is it?" The hedgehog asked, leaning over the polished, black desktop and pressing touching a button.

"Sir, you have an incoming hail from Full Prower Workshop's." The communications officer reported to his superior officer.

Both Shadow and Sally let go of each other and walked to a nearby wall monitor "Put it through on a secure channel." He ordered.

"Aye sir!" The officer replied and closed the channel to put the one from the independent facility through.

The dark hedgehog straightened his uniform before accepting the personal call. "Have you found something?" Shadow got straight to the point.

The fox nodded in response. "I have, however the information that I've been able to retrieve can only be accessed in chronological and must been played fully before it proceeds to the next. I suspect it is part of Chiron's programming though, to help give people context." He mused.

The station commander turned to the queen and they looked at each other before Sally gave him a nod in affirmation. "Go ahead, I'll transfer you to a personal terminal." The hedgehog responded and transferred the call to another monitor near the sitting area in his office, where both he and his wife sat down to watch the Chronicles of Fenix the Echidna play before them.


	2. Darkness Rising - Part 2

**A/N:** Here is the new updated version of what was the original first chapter. Undoubtedly some of the readers have issues with the pairings, but please remember that you are not being forced to continue reading. For those that don't care either way and like the development so far, please enjoy the updates.

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 **Chronicles of Fenix the Echidna**

 **Darkness Rising - Part 2**

The lynx stood at the door of Fenix's hospital room, which had a full view of the stars and the planet below them, the only thing that ruined the peaceful view, was the odd ship that passed by every so often. Nicole entered the spartan room, which smelled of disinfectant quietly and sat down next the Echidna and placed a hand on his chest, so much had happened and because of her interaction with him, she about almost every hardship he had to endure and his personal demons that he carried, she could never forget the fateful day that she rescued him from being a slave to the tyrannical Doctor Eggman."There's so much that I want to say," She edged closer to the unconscous mobian. "I have heard that talking to coma patients can have a positive influence on their recovery." She stated, however she thought that the doctor in charge of Fenix's case was just trying to be nice by making her feel like there was something she could do.

"Both of us have endure so much and lost those that we have cared about, while my loss maybe a memory from a world that no longer exists and has since become faint impression, you still carry your's with you." She moved her hand and placed it ontop of his. "I remember the time to I entered your mind and how I accidentally discovered your past." Nicole began to reminesce.

* * *

As the rain began to fall from the heavens a bolt of lightning arced across the sky of old Mobotroplis, stained a green-brown by the high levels of pollution in the atmosphere that surrounded the city. In between each crash, the sound of fierce fighting could be heard on the muddied terrain. "Give it up Sonic, not even you can fight someone who has fought longer and harder than you." Doctor Eggman gloated as his arch-nemesis pulled himself up and wiped the mud off of his face.

"Heh- We'll see Egghead. Once we're done with the puppet, we're coming after the master." The blue hedgehog replied with a cocky tone.

As the evil doctor and the 'Hero of Mobius' traded insults at one another, Amy charged at their opponent with her hammer raised and swung at the dark cloaked figure but missed as they had stepped to the side at the last minute and wrapped his hands around the handle "LET GO!" She growled tightening her grip, however, they didn't reply and found herself leave the ground as her opponent began to swing her around until she let go of the hammer and collided with the blue hero. "Ah- sorry Sonic!" She said bashfully as the hedgehog groaned in pain.

As the melee continued, one by one the heroes were countered and sent crashing into one another and had to call off attacks out of fear of hitting their team mates by accident or couldn't get a good angle on him. "He's tough I'll give him that." Sonic said in between breaths as he panted from exhaustion, while he was the fastest thing on Mobius, he wasn't too good at martial arts and he felt incredibly sore from having Amy, Antoine, Bunnie, Knuckles and Tails thrown at him.

Princess Sally Acorn shook her head in disagreement, as she had not only participated in the fight but also took the time to analyse what was happening "No he's just that good. He's using our own strength and concern for each other against us but it is because of that, that he can't finish us off." The leader of the Freedom Fighters said with a hand on her chin, deep in thought trying to find an opening.

The speedster turned to the chipmunk, wondering if she had any insight on how to beat their opponent. "So what do we do?" He asked, refusing to accept anything other than defeat.

That's when Shade stepped forward having chosen to stay on the sidelines, she didn't want to fight someone that she had known for quite some time but as the situation had become hazardous, now wasn't the time to be timid. "Let me talk to him." The female Echidna said with steeled confidence.

Sonic's eyes went wide at hearing her words. "What? Are you crazy?" he said incredulously, to him the time for talk had long since passed but he wasn't much for sitting down and talking things out. "He'll beat you down like the rest of us!" With the way things were going, it was easy for him to see that as the possible outcome

"He won't." The current Procurator of the Nocturnus already had her mind up and she would like to believe that the male Echidna that they were currently fighting would listen to reason.

Sally fixed her deep blue eyes on Shade. "How do you know that?" the princess wondered where her confidence came from.

The female Echidna shifted her gaze from the black cloaked Echidna that was now fighting in a stalemate with Shadow to the ground. "He was the Procurator before me and I was both his subordinate and for a time, his friend. I know he's in there still, I have to try at least once more." Every time she had tried to get his attention an Egg Boss seemed to get in her way and force them to retreat but this time with the Egg Boss' distracted with other projects, this was her chance.

"I understand." The chipmunk closed her eyes and smiled knowingly, she knew the true meaning behind the Echidna's actions and would very much do the same thing in her place.

Unlike the others whom would just rush in from the front to aid their friends, Shade opted to come in from behind while their target was busy fighting the ultimate life form. As each strike was blocked and countered by the two fighters, Shade the Echidna got into position by a ruined building within the old city and waited for the right opportunity to restrain the other Echidna, as Shadow's fight drew him closer to her position, she leapt out from the hiding position and grabbed the cloaked figure by the arms. "FENIX! You need to stop this! I know that you're still in there!" She hoped that her former mentor and commander wasn't so brainwashed that he had forgotten about her, that somehow her voice would reach him.

"What are you doing Shade? Get back!" Shadow growled, annoyed by the female echidna's interference in his battle, something that he was starting to enjoy. While Sonic was good rival to race against, the speedster only had limited training in hand-to-hand combat and now that the dark hedgehog had finally found someone on equal footing, he could put his skills to the test and found it irritating that his 'fun' had been spoiled.

However, Fenix didn't want anything to do with her and moved backwards and slammed her against the building she had been hiding behind earlier, causing her to lose her grip and fall to the concrete path. With his hands now free, the Echidna brought out two energy swords and ignited them. "Please, Fenix…" She begged as the Echidna with the white tipped quills brought his blood red blades up to strike her down.

The male Echidna's fierce eyes softened and she could see that he was struggling to say something "Virus…implants…" He managed to say as he tried desperately to stop himself from harming Shade.

After recovering from the shock of seeing the sudden turn of events, Shadow tackled Fenix to the ground before he could take Shade's life. "Shadow! Hold him down! We need Nicole's help!" the young woman in question began giving out orders as soon as she realised what had happened and the meaning behind the message that Fenix had given her.

"He was ready to kill you and you want me to restrain him?" The black and red hedgehog argued, wondering why the female Nocturnus would want just hold her would be killer down.

Shade frowned at the hedgehog and gave him a stern look, to let him know that she was serious about her decision and to also bring him up to speed on why she interfered in the first place. "Just do it!" She demanded in a firm tone and then cast her gaze over to the Princess "Sally bring Nicole!" She called out to the leader of the freedom fighters to come over to their position, while the teams nursed their bruises and before Fenix could manage to struggle free.

"Uh? Right!" The chipmunk said dumbly, hurrying over with Nicole's handheld form in her hands.

Shadow gritted his teeth as Fenix began pressing his foot against the hedgehog's torso in an attempt to push the ultimate life form off of him. "Be quick!" The hedgehog growled as he struggled with controlling the Echidna.

"GO TO SLEEP!" Knuckles came barrelling over and knocked Fenix out by hitting him over the head with his powerful fists and everyone looked up at the other Echidna wide-eyed surprised by Knuckles' action.

As Sally had knelt down next to Shade and Fenix, Shadow had released his grip and decided to listen in on the conversation but took a moment to glance over to see how his team was doing. "What do you need me to do?" The A.I. asked, while she was happy to help out in some way, she wanted to know as much as possible about her task before proceeding any further.

Shade was silent for a while, thinking of the possible dangers involved of this plan and whether or not there's was another way to get rid of the virus but that would take a lot of time, something which they didn't have a lot of in reserve "You need to enter his mind." She said after finally gaining the courage to speak.

"What are you talking about?" Sally probed for more information, while they had come across telepaths that were able to read and enter people's minds, an artificial intelligence doing such a thing didn't seem possible.

The orange moustached man growled in frustration if he didn't do something now, he'd lose a valuable asset and he'd lose this confrontation. "Never send a rodent to do a machine's job. GO! EGG-CERBERUS!" he cried out and following his call, a massive mechanical dog burst up from the ground roaring.

Sonic got to his feet and clenched his fists tightly "We'll handle this. Make sure no one interferes while Nicole does her thing." He said confidently giving Sally and Shade his winning smile and raced off with Shadow and Knuckles to take on the gigantic canine.

"I need you to enter his mind through his implants." Shade clarified how Nicole would be transferring her program over into Fenix.

Sally looked at Shade quizzically, from what she could tell Fenix looked like an average Mobian and had none of the 'upgrades' that the cyberised minions of the Egg Army had. "Implants?" She asked.

The female Echidna lowered her head as a sense of shame and regret washed over her, she had been told about her clan's former leader's plans and ulterior motives but had chosen to ignore them because he was able to bring her friend back. "He was killed by the Zoah and Imperator Ix brought Fenix back to use him as a weapon." She gripped her arm, remembering how he had insisted on leading the attack on Zoah and leaving much of the fighting to him.

"I see…" Sally followed her gaze, sensing the regret in Shade's voice.

"I can upload myself into his implants but I would like to know what exactly it is that I am doing." Nicole interrupted, knowing that they didn't have time to waste on idle talk.

The female Echidna blinked, regaining her composure and focus "Fenix said or at least from what he was able to tell me, is that there is virus controlling his movements..." She hoped that even without significant evidence that it was more than enough to convince the others to help her.

The tactician of the Freedom Fighters frowned, even though she would like to assist Shade, she wasn't willing to risk her friend on a hunch. "But can you really trust him at the moment though, it could be a trick to trap Nicole." She stated calmly, while Eggman does tend to get overconfident and places too much faith in his creations on winning with shock and awe tactics, he was also crafty.

Shade placed a hand on the broken Nocturnus armour that he still wore from his time as the Procurator and acted as her superior. "He hesitated when he had the opportunity to kill me, so I can." She stated confidently.

The princess of the Republic of the Kingdom of Acorn let out a defeated sigh, she wasn't prepared to argue any further nor waste time on the subject. "If you're willing to put that much faith into him then it is good enough for me." The auburn haired chipmunk, smiled gently in understanding, both Sonic and her had risked a lot for each other on just hunches before. "Nicole?" Sally asked the digital mobian if she was ready.

"Ready Sally." The holo-lynx responded simply to her friend, prepared to take this solo mission into uncharted waters.

The leader of the Freedom Fighters nodded in affirmation and brought Nicole's handheld form closer to Fenix and placed it into his palm. "Good luck." She wished the A.I. a safe journey and return.

Green blocks began to assemble themselves within darkened terrain that looked like the amalgamation of flesh and technology. Once her program had finished uploading itself into Fenix's implants, the holo-lynx took the time to survey her surroundings. "So this is what the inside of an organic mind is like when connected with technology?" She touched the fleshy, reddish-grey walls and saw feint synthetic weaving against it. "What are these? Files? Not just files but memories, these dark ones must be memories he's locked away." She observed several soft glowing lights that seemed to float on the walls, scooping up one of the lights like water and looked into it and saw one of Fenix's happier moments before casting a glance over to the darker lights that seemed more petrified than the others. As Nicole continued to examine the small wisps of floating energy, the holo-lynx heard voices in the distance and hid herself from view 'The virus that Shade was talking about.' The mobian A.I. reasoned as she focused her attention to the tallest figure in the centre of what looked like a control room.

In the centre stood a tall and stringy individual with a black body and what appeared to be a Karura Mask "I want the damage repaired now and I want us combat-ready as soon as systems come back online!" The figure yelled to smaller versions of himself that were busy with performing multiple tasks, most likely to try and get their host conscious again. "Eggman isn't done with you yet meatbag, not until he says otherwise." Capsids, the name of the virus, said menacingly as it glided over to Fenix, who was strapped to some sort of flesh like formation.

Nicole focused her attention on the smaller programs that inhabited the area and were working for Eggman's virus. 'That's a lot of subroutines. I'll need help, especially seeing as this isn't just a digital world' She reasoned, seeing as it wasn't an actual digital world but a combination of organic and synthetic, her abilities were limited as to how much she could do "I need to free Fenix." She murmured, deciding on an appropriate course of action however she'd need to get close and by the look of things, she'd have a tough time getting to Fenix undetected.

As the core of the virus taunted the incapacitated Echidna, several subroutines were working on one of their many 'comrades' that had been lying on the ground, obviously to restore some of the programs that had been damaged by Knuckles' punch. "System security online." The smaller version of the core virus program stated as it rose from the ground and began surveying the area around it, eventually settling its' eyes in Nicole's direction "Unauthorised program detected!" It called, turning one of its tendrils into a hand and pointed it into the A.I.'s direction.

"Grab her!" The larger figure ordered and a series of the smaller programs rushed towards her direction, all armed with spear like digital weapons.

' _No! I need to hide_.' She gasped and ran down the corridor of fibres and nerves, she wasn't prepared to fight in an environment such as this and didn't exactly know how her abilities would work or effect things around her. Turning a corner she found a cluster of ganglia and begrudgingly decided to hide amongst the various nerves and let out an audible sigh as most of the programs had passed her by, however, it was at that time that one of the subroutines had stopped right outside of her hiding spot and looked in her direction. "Looks like I have no choice but to fight now." The holo-lynx muttered to herself after the virus' spear just barely missed her and damaging the nerve cluster, as she ducked and rolled out of her hiding spot to face the Capsid's security programs with her pink, pitchfork-like weapon in hand and leaped into action by slashing at her enemies and parrying their attacks however because of the strange environment limiting her abilities, which decreased the effectiveness of her weapon. Even as she defeated one enemy after the other, Nicole eventually found herself surrounded on all sides and overwhelmed.

Eventually the holo-lynx found herself in front of the core program of the virus "So this is the intruder?" He grabbed Nicole by the chin with one of his blackened tendrils, "Ah…Nicole, I expected you sooner." The creature said in an aloof synthesized voice

"You know who I am?" She replied in a bitter tone pulling her face away from Caspid's grasp

He slithered over to Fenix "Yes I do, just like I know about your friends. Everything that the meatsack there and Eggman knows, I know." The virus draped itself over the unconscious Echdina's shoulders before moving back to the female A.I. lynx. "So before I purge you, let's crack your code and assimilate your data." He wrapped his tendrils around the feline's head.

As the virus began to forcibly sifting, sorting and taking the information from Nicole. "HIYAHHHH!" she cried out in pain as her program faded in and out of existence.

As the torture continued on the holographic Mobian, the subroutines went about their assigned tasks of restoring control of the echidna's body. "Auditory and visual sensors are back online." One of Caspid's smaller forms announced to the core program of the virus, allowing everyone to vaguely hear and see what was going on in the real world.

" _Nicole what's wrong? What's going on? We have to get her out now!_ " Sally said in a panic, as Fenix's body convulsed and twitched in response to the trauma that was being inflicted on the dark haired lynx.

Shade shook her head, refusing to give up. " _If we do that, we lose our only chance of getting Fenix back!_ " The both knew that every time they try to remove Fenix as a threat, something always got in the way.

' _That voice…_ ' Fenix raised his heavy eyelids, Shade's familiar voice causing him to stir from his comatose like state.

Seeing the white-tipped echidna still in agony, Sally had to make a decision. " _If we don't, then we lose both of them!_ " She argued, she couldn't lose her friend on a fool's errand and especially not in an uncontrolled environment without backup.

" _NO!_ _Fenix! If you're still there, please! Please! Wake up and help us! Help Nicole! Fight whatever has control over you._ " She began to plead for her former superior and crush to fight, to see if she could snap some sense back into him.

He blinked sleepily, while trying to move about in his bindings that held him against the organic mass behind him. ' _Shade? When did she come to Mobius?_ ' The last time he had actually seen her was inside the Twilight Cage, just before he went into exile and after she had be given the title of Procurator.

" _Please remember who you were! You've fought armies, you're stronger than Eggman!"_ The female echidna gently shook his shoulders, hoping that it would have some sort of effect on him and help him to regain his senses.

After finally gathering his strength, Fenix balled his fists with conviction in his Egyptian blue eyes. "No more…" He said with decisiveness in his voice before braking his bonds and moved on the infection.

With the white-tipped echidna free from his constraints, the virus' control over Fenix's body had been lost "What the-? We're losing connection! Everything is going offline!" The sudden loss with their link to the brain and nervous system had taken the subroutines aback and turned to the core program with alarm in their synthesized voice.

As they turned, they saw the echidna march up to Capsid square in the mask and sent it stumbling across the 'command centre' and lost its connection with Nicole, stopping her from being erased from existence. "I'm taking back what's mine!" He growled, prepared to fight. "Nicole?" Fenix glanced briefly in the holo-lynx's direction, making sure she was in a stable condition and unharmed.

The Lynx shook her head and gathered her thoughts as she got to her feet. "Yes…I'm fine, I will need to do a full system diagnostic but otherwise I am combat ready." She stated, summoning her weapon.

The scarred echidna stepped forward. "Handle the subroutines, I'll deal with the Capsid core program." Fenix launched himself at the virus, leaving Nicole to fight the smaller programs. As she fought the coded enemies, she felt lighter than she had before and her movements were more fluid as if the resistance she had felt earlier had been lifted, she glanced briefly back at Fenix as she held back the subroutines and surmised that the reason for the sudden change in her movements was due to the echidna being free but what got her was that he wasn't trying to hold control all to himself, however, Fenix was sharing the power with her.

Black tendrils whipped past Fenix one at a time trying to incapacitate the echidna, however, the virus couldn't land a hit on the former Procurator as he shifted from side-to-side and ducked out of the way of each strike, until finally Capsid was able to grasp his right arm and let out an arrogant chortle, but the brief victory was cut short as he was suddenly drawn in and connected with Fenix's left elbow, which was swiftly followed by a combo of right jab, a left uppercut and finished off with a right overhand punch that sent Eggman's control program crashing into the deck and cracking its mask, the result of a resolute mind. "HOW! HOW WERE YOU ABLE TO GET FREE? I BROKE YOUR WILL! TOOK CONTROL OF YOUR IMPLANTS! THIS DOESN'T COMPUTE!" The once calm and composed virus program uttered exhaustedly as the echidna picked it up off the ground and looked at it in the eye holes with a firm grasp that would choke an ordinary life form.

Fenix tightened his grip around the helpless virus created by Doctor Eggman and brought him to eye level. "Someone reminded me of who and what I am." He glowered as he continued to squeeze the life out of the virtual construct until finally it stopped moving, falling limp in his hands and started to dissolve into oblivion. The echidna couldn't help but let a small satisfied grin tug at the corners of his mouth, however it was also a feeling that he also regretted on having.

"Capsid is gone and so are his remaining subroutines." Nicole walked up to the former Nocturnus-clan member and reassuring him while placing a supportive hand on his shoulder, while brushing away a stray strand of her silken, black hair from her eyes.

As the last fragments of the virus disappeared from his mind, Fenix raised his head but dared not to look at the lynx. "Keep what you've seen between us." He demanded in a quiet tone, he didn't want anyone to know of the dark thoughts that have plagued him since long ago and the even darker side of him that still lingered in the back of his mind

She looked at the echidna quizzically. "Why would you want this kept hidden?" She wondered, this individual has certainly had a dark and troubled past but he kept it bottled up, with an old fried like Shade by his side, she'd thought that he would at least let her know of the pain.

Fenix walked over to Nicole and looked at her sternly "I don't want pity or sympathy, it is something that I have to deal with alone." He said with finality, making certain that she was going to understand his position on the matter. The pain that he had locked away was something he didn't want to share with anyone and resolved to sort out on his own

"If that's what you want." Although she found it a bit sad that he had chosen to take the lonely road, she somehow understood his decision and it also felt kind of nice that someone trusted her enough to keep a secret and it also felt quite exciting.

Just as Nicole was about to leave Fenix's body and return to her handheld computer form, the echidna placed a hand on her shoulder. "Before you go, you should run a self-diagnostic. Just in case." He said more as a demand than as a suggestion, he wasn't going to take any chances and wanted to be sure that the virus hadn't uploaded itself into the holo-mobian.

The female holo-lynx looked shocked for a moment, as if he had the audacity to distrust her after all that she had done to help him but then saw the logic in his statement "Agreed, one moment." There was a brief pause as she closed her eyes and began scanning her files for possible infection. "Done, Capsid hasn't infected my programs. Where ever it has gone, it must be inside another host." She stated, looking over to Fenix whom had a sombre look on his face as he stood in silence trying to figure out where the virus could have gone. "If we're done here, I'll take my leave." After completing her assigned task, Nicole's mobian form slowly began breaking down as she transmitted her signal back to her handheld form. "Mission accomplished Sally." She stated triumphantly to her chipmunk friend.

As the male Nocturnus stirred, Shade placed a supportive hand behind Fenix and helped him up into a sitting position. "Are you alright?" She asked, concerned for his safety and wondering if there was anything that she could help with.

The echidna grabbed a hold of his head in pain. "Ugh…Eggman" He glared up at the mad scientist, letting him know that a line had been crossed and that Eggman had stepped on a non-negotiable landmine.

Eggman gulped hard after seeing the look in Fenix's eyes "Oh no…" He grabbed a hold of the controls of the Egg Mobile and turned one-hundred and eighty degrees in the opposite direction to his base in a panic, if Fenix was able to fight Shadow to a stalemate, he knew he was in trouble.

Seeing the mad scientist fly off in his Egg Mobile, the scarred echidna ran to Shadow's G.U.N. buggy and gave chase without so much as a word to anyone else. "FENIX! WAIT!" Shade called out, she recognised the look that her former superior had after he lost his fiancé when the Nocturnus was trying to conquer the world four thousand years ago, the look of revenge and this worried her

Hidden beneath the ruined city of Mobotroplis, a crash echoed through the polished floors of the secret facility. "DAMN THAT BLUE RODENT!" He shouted, knocking files and beakers to the ground. "I ALMOST HAD HIM! HIS FRIENDS AND ALLIES HAD TURNED ON HIM! WHAT WENT WRONG?" He continued his rant "ORBOT! CUBOT! GET THE EGG CARRIER READY! WE'RE LEAVING!" Doctor Eggman called out to his robotic henchmen.

The red and yellow mechanised assistants bounced over to their tyrannical maker "Are we abandoning the base your largeness?" The red spherical styled robot asked with a hint of cheek in his voice.

"Not exactly." The orange moustached mad scientist replied with a low growl at Orbot's sassiness.

The yellow-cubed shaped robot Cubot scratched his head wondering about the change in plans "Why're we leav'in the homestead fer partner?" he asked in an accent befitting of a Mobian from the Southern Baronies.

The large Overlander turned to his creations to explain everything, after grabbing his scarf and pushing a button that activated a series of robotic arms. "If we can't turn his friends or his allies, turning the world will be just as difficult and any attempt to rebuild the Death Egg will draw the unwanted attention of those miserable Freedom Fighters." He said with spite, above the noise of the machinery behind him as he moved to another console.

"Then what do you propose we do sir?" Orbot asked, still unable to follow the direction of the conversation.

Eggman then pressed another button in dramatic fashion, turning on series of lights that illuminated a rebuilt Egg Carrier in a massive underground hangar. "We leave Mobius and bring down the might of an entire universe down on Sonic and his companions." he stated as a large arm retracted back into place after attaching a booster rocket to the enormous flying factory ship.

"I suppose it'll be a nice change of scenery and if somehow Sonic does follow, we won't be able to hear you scream sir." The red spherical robot quipped

"What was that Orbot?" Eggman sneered in response.

"Nothing sir." The machine in question cowered just as an explosion rocked the entire underground complex.

As one of the heavy lifter arms crashed into the control room's window, the yellow cube shaped robot held onto a nearby chair to prevent itself from falling over. "What in tarnation was that?" he yelled, looking all around for an answer.

Orbot pulled himself up off of the floor and looked to one of the monitors and his receptors widened at what he saw. Large metal doors warped and twisted every which way, Egg-SWATs lying on the ground broken and shattered, with the wreckage of a G.U.N. Buggy fire nearby and in the centre a shadowed figure dressed in a black trench coat holding two blood red energy swords. "We got trouble at the main entrance sir…and they don't look too happy." he pointed to the monitor in a shaky voice.

Eggman gulped audibly. As his ally Fenix had proven to be as formidable as Mecha Sally as a tactician and a capable fighter just like Shadow, what he had not counted was the backlash of having used him as a pawn until now. "ALL BADNIK FORCES TO THE MAIN GATE! STOP THE INTRUDER NOW!" The large man shouted his orders into the microphone, causing some feedback which made Cubot and Orbot hold their audio-receptors in response if this intruder was here now, that meant that his true nemesis wasn't far behind.

As the full might of Badnik Horde was rushing towards the intruder, the familiar sound of rushing wind could be heard coming from outside the complex and two hedgehogs came to a screeching halt outside the broken doors after finally having dealt with the Egg Cerberus "Talk about making an entrance." The blue hedgehog gestured to opening. Once both had entered the facility they froze in awe at the amount of destruction they were witnessing and the massive military force that had been gathered to stop them but what had drawn their attention was the lone Mobian that was taking on Horde Commander. "How about we join the fun?" He chided, coming to his senses before rushing off into the fray.

"Hmph!" Shadow replied eagerly with a smirk.

Hearing the voices behind him, the shadowy figure that had started the fight knew that it wouldn't take long for the badniks to re-prioritise their target and go for the hedgehogs and as if on cue, they sensed the approaching heat sources and began attacking the heroes of Mobius. Seeing the more appealing targets, Eta shifted its weight to drive its current opponent into the ground however it never finished the attack as each limb fell to the ground with a clattering thud and the sound of small wings fluttering in the air. There was a brief pause in the fighting as the Flicky bird flew across the battlefield and out of the hole in the massive doors. "Hey! He ditched us!" Sonic cried noticing that the Echidna that had been reason behind the start of the free for all was no longer with them.

"Focus Sonic, we got more important things to worry about." Shadow growled as the fight started up again and shattered a Hoverby with a single punch, noticing a piece of cable from his ruined buggy fall to the ground from a beam just above them. While he didn't liked be used, he couldn't help but appreciate the resourcefulness.

As orange moustached tyrant rushed to the bridge of the Egg Carrier, lights began to flicker on and controls hummed to life while he took his seat in the command chair. "Start the engines and power up weapons! We're blasting our way out of here!" He ordered the minions that remained on the vessel, knowing full well that it wouldn't take his foes long to get through the Badnik Horde and that it would be wise to make a hasty retreat rather than stick around to be pummelled.

"What the heck was that?" The speedster asked after finishing off the last of his mechanised opponents as the facility shuddered and metal plates came loose from the ceiling and bulbs shattered from the shock waves that came from the powerful canons on Egg Carrier.

Shadow threw the remains of a destroyed Egg-SWAT to the ground and stared intently down the hall with "Explosions from artillery fire, Eggman must be making his escape." the black and red-striped hedgehog stated knowingly, time spent with Omega had made him accustomed to such sounds and Eggman was never one to stick around a losing battle.

After a few moments the rest of the Freedom Fighters and the rest of Team Dark came running into the now abandoned underground facility, only just now catching up to the Hedgehogs. "Sonic is everything okay here?" Sally Acorn said in between breaths. "We saw the Egg Carrier and made our way here as fast as we could." Both had rushed off without so much a word and it was only after they followed the path of where Eggman's ship had come from that they were able to find the base.

"We're fine Sal" The blue hedgehog reassured his girlfriend and kicked the remains of a nearby badnik to be certain.

Dusting the last traces of metal and oil from his hands and fur, Shadow approached the group with his assessment of the situation. "Unfortunately it would appear that Eggman had already planned his escape before we got here as he had quite a sizeable defence for to cover his retreat from the area." he stated matter-of-factly and gestured to the mangled wrecks around him.

"So we're back to square one, huh- Sally-girl?" Bunnie Rabbot-D'Coolette said rather in a defeated tone, after all the work they had put in and the recent problems they had faced, no one wanted another setback.

It didn't take long for the blue-eyed chipmunk to come up with a solution to salvage the situation "If Rouge and Tails can help Nicole hack the mainframe, we could see where Eggman is heading." Due to Eggman's hasty retreat, she figured that the so-called 'genius' would have been sloppy and left something behind.

"Unless you plan to do it from inside a radiation cloud then I suggest you leave." The black coated Mobian from before stated bluntly after coming from the control room, making it clear that the place was set to self-destruct.

"What?" Everyone said in alarmed unison.

The Mobian stepped out into the light, revealing a blue eyed echidna with a scar across his right eye. "Sonic, get everyone out! Shadow, we need to head to sublevel 42 and defuse the bomb." He began ordering, using what he could work with.

The young fox in the group took a step toward the echidna. "I should go with you." Tails exclaimed, ready to do his part to help disarm the explosive device that threatened to destroy a source of valuable information.

"What? Tails? No!" The blue hedgehog protested.

The young genius shook his head as he took his place next to Shadow, ready to be transported "I understand the risk involved Sonic and I understood the risk of being a Freedom Fighter when I first became one." He stated, hoping to reassure his long-time friend who had been like a brother to him.

Sonic walked up to the yellow fox and placed a firm hand on his shoulder "Are you sure about this?" The speedster questioned, still concerned for Tails' safety.

The fox looked into the hedgehog's eyes with steeled determination and nodded "Yes" he simply replied.

"Go get 'em lil buddy." Sonic gave Tails his winning grin and a thumbs up while messing up the fur on his head.

Even though the boy genius tried to act mature, he was still a kid at heart and he couldn't help but laugh at his 'older brother's' playful act. "Ha! Ha! Stop! Ha! Ha! You're embarrassing me!" He manage to say and brushed Sonic's hand away "Uh…sorry for the hold up." He said to the echidna and Shadow apologetically with a slight blush on his cheeks.

It was Sally's turn to step forward "What about us?" the princess and leader of the freedom fighters asked for the rest of the team.

The echidna and Shadow looked at each other for a moment as if reading each other's minds and nodded in silent agreement. "Keep your people safe" The dark hedgehog said coolly as he brought out the green chaos emerald from his quills. "CHAOS CONTROL!" He shouted and in a flash of white light, he and the two Mobians that were standing next to him left Sonic to start getting the party out of harm's way.

Moments later Shadow, Tails and the echidna appeared deep within the bowels of the underground facility and followed a slow repeating beep which came from a dimly lit room that was illuminated only by an electronic display panel showing how much time remained until detonation. "The countdown is still going?" Shadow asked, wondering if they could disable it.

The echidna brought out his energy swords and activated them, using one for illumination and used the other to melt the screws off of an access panel. "Multiple levels of encryption, severing the signal to the trigger mechanism is faster." He replied, pulling the panel off and throwing it aside.

"That's a lot of wires." Tails said dumbly, looking at the mess in front of him "Must be to slow down anyone trying to defuse it." The twin tailed fox figured, trying to figure out where to even begin.

"Less talk." The red echidna with white tipped spines, glared at the young genius as he narrowed the blade of the energy sword he was holding and began severing connections. Even though he hated being under Eggman's control, right now he had to admit that time was paying off for him.

The fox brought out a pair of wire cutters from his tool belt and began following echidna's pattern. "You're grumpier than Shadow, you know that Fenix?" he quipped but soon came to regret his words as both Fenix and Shadow cave him a cold look. "Heh, heh…" He laughed nervously cutting five more wires in hurried fashion and the room fell into awkward silence.

That quiet however was soon broken when Sonic came rushing into the room "That's everyone. How's it going down here?" The blue speedster walked up to the display and then looked down at the two that were hard at work disarming the bomb.

"If this goes off, distance won't matter." Fenix replied bluntly, still focused on the task at hand, while trying to hint to the 'Hero of Mobius' that he should be with the others should they fail here.

Tails cast a brief glance up at Sonic and cut a few more wires "What he means is that we're nearly done." He tried to smooth things over and not worry the hedgehog. "Shadow how long?" The young genius asked the Ultimate Life form.

"Ten seconds." The hedgehog stated to the group.

Sweat began to bead around Tails' brow as he severed the last wire and moved onto the polished metal connecting rod "Almost there." He wrapped both his hands around it and braced himself.

"Nine seconds." Shadow continued

Tails began to grunt as he struggled to free the rod and stop the countdown. "It's not coming loose!" He panicked.

"Eight seconds" The black and red hedgehog watched as the timer continued to tick over as the others continued their work.

Sonic then put his hand around the connector "Let me help." He said and pulled.

However the speedster's efforts were to no avail and the countdown continued on without slowing. "Seven Seconds" The Ultimate Life form stated holding back a smirk at Sonic's pathetic attempt to help.

"We get it Shadow!" The blue hedgehog snapped, causing the other hedgehog to roll his eyes out of disdain and watched the timer in silence.

Fed up with seeing the look of panic and the failed attempts to free the rod from the trigger mechanism, Fenix pushed Sonic and Tails aside "Out of the way!" He growled reaching in.

Wrapping hand around the connector rod, he pushed it back, twisted it ninety degrees and then pulled it out from the nuclear device and the electronic display began to fade to black. "Oh! Push, twist and then pull." The time they had left had Tails so alarmed that he hadn't realised how it was connected to each other.

Breathing a sigh of relief Sonic turned to Shadow. "So how long did we have Shads until this thing went off?" He asked hoping that the dark hedgehog forgot his outburst earlier.

"Two point three seconds were left." The Ultimate Life form folded his arms across his chest and glared daggers at the Hero of Mobius.

The speedster turned his head slightly, trying to avoid direct eye contact with the black and red-striped hedgehog. "Talk about cutting it close, thanks for the help-" He stopped in mid-sentence once he realised that the echidna was no longer in their presence. "He could have at least said seeya later." the hedgehog scratched the back of his head. "Well looks like you've got competition for grouchiest of the year." He looked at Shadow before snickering at his own joke.

The dark hedgehog shook his head and made his way to the door, having had enough of the puns and quips. "I'm going to the control room." He said with finality and left Sonic and Tails to clean up but as he entered the hallway, he noticed the echidna's abandoned armour and energy blades on the ground, indicating that Fenix obviously had enough of fighting.

* * *

Nicole gazed out of the window and stared at the twinkling stars. "Maybe I should call my manager." She said absently, before returning her gaze back to the echidna. While she felt like that she was betraying her fans, she felt that she owed Fenix for everything that he has done for her and that she should help him to recover. After making her final decision she got up from her seat and went to the nearest corner to make her call.

Shadow and Sally looked at the screen as a picture appeared on the monitor before them and the dark hedgehog brought a gloved hand under his muzzle as he remembered when the time and place that the recording was taken. "I remember this, it was shortly after Shade and I raided one of Eggman's hidden labs inside Central City itself." the mention of the former Team Dark member caused him to have a moment of pause. "I'll have to let her know that Fenix is alive as well...I am not looking forward to the lecture."

Sally raised an eyebrow at the comment. "Lecture?" She asked and then it hit her as to what he was talking about. "Oh...about not telling her sooner...yeah you better prepare yourself." He crossed his arms and looked away, as she wasn't helping to ease the situation.

* * *

Two years after Eggman had left for parts unknown, his empire eventually fell into state of internal unrest as each grandmaster vied for control over the others in an attempt to fill the power vacuum, some falling victim to G.U.N. forces, being seized by larger Eggman Armies or left to wither on the vine. In this chaotic time, nations such as the Kingdom of the Republic of Acorn and the United Federation are making strides to recover from the war with the Eggman Empire and have taken a stance of waiting to see with the civil war between Egg Army chapters, but this ultimately has led to an increase in arms deals to fund their operations and a steady rise armed crime in various locations. _"With the fall of another chapter of the Egg Army, the Efrika region can breathe a sigh of relief however reports are saying that other chapters are using this development as an opportunity to reinforce their positions."_ A dark haired human woman in a red blazer reported _"In ongoing news, the black suited vigilante has once again helped put a stop to what seems to be a long string of robberies. What this as of yet unnamed vigilante will do next, we can only speculate. However what has everyone talking is the upcoming…"_ The reporter's voice on the laptop died as the volume was muted.

"What do you want?" The owner of the voice didn't bother turning around to look at the two figures standing behind him as he closed the notebook that sat on his lap.

"Nice to see you too Fenix" The female echidna had expected this kind of response and smiled knowingly.

The scarred echidna to say the least was a little surprise, however, made certain to not let it show in his voice. "Shade? I heard you were with G.U.N. but I didn't expect you to be a part of Team Dark." He had made certain to keep tabs on most of the Nocturnus Clan, but in recent times work had kept him busy.

As her former superior stood and looked at her, Shade looked away shyly and kicked at the ground. "Well I wanted to make up for the damage that I helped cause." While she was under orders and had acted with good intentions, the fact that she had been tricked into causing harm did not sit well with her, what made the feeling worse was that Fenix lost his position to her because he realised it before her. "But you seem to be doing well for yourself, CEO of Hope Technologies." She said looking around his private estate and how he was using reverse engineered Nocturnus technology to help the sick and injured.

Shadow let out an audible sigh, having lost his patience from listening to the awkward conversation which was detracting them from the reason why they came to see Fenix in the first place. "Enough of this! If you want to catch up, do it in your own time." He chastised the female echidna for getting distracted "G.U.N. requires your assistance." the hedgehog said succinctly so they could get back on track.

The male echidna raised his right eyebrow incredulously. "Will that be before or after they throw me in a cell?" He found it hard to believe that the Guardian Units of the Nation would be calling him after they sent him to Prison Island during the Nocturnus invasion, believing that he was a threat to national security, even though he had warned them a full year beforehand and did nothing. "My work here is more important," he stated and picked up the laptop from the lawn chair he had been reclining in moments ago.

"I understand your distrust given your past with them but G.U.N. has discovered something that may help us find Eggman." Shadow raised his hands, showing that even he doesn't like how the human/overlander organisation operated sometimes and that he too has been burned by it.

The prospect of getting revenge on Eggman for using him as a pawn sounded too good to pass up. "I'm listening." He said coolly, turning back around and listened to what the pair had to say. After the two had explained that G.U.N. had discovered an ancient warp ring like device at Eggman's Efrika base and that they believed that it was created by the Precursors to travel to other worlds, Fenix nodded in understanding "I'll be there at 0900 hours, tomorrow." he said and began walking to his modern styled mansion.

However before he could pass her, Shade placed a hand on his cheek and looked at him affectionately and he gently took it in his own. "You're doing good work, she'd be proud of you." She said in a caring tone, showing her support before letting him go. "See you tomorrow." She then began walking back down the main path to the street, where their taxi waited for the two members of Team Dark.

"Sir! I've taken the liberty to reserve you a seat on the next available flight and a hotel suite in Central City." A synthesized voice with an English accent, spoke to the echidna as he made his way to the master bedroom.

Fenix pulled out one of his pre-packed suitcases from the large closet. "Thanks Chiron. Monitor police bands and web traffic for any signs of movement from that drug cartel." The exiled Nocturnus-clan Echidna, said dispassionately as he slipped on a black suit jacket over the blue shirt he was wearing.

"Yes sir." The voice replied promptly

"Time to see what G.U.N. wants." The echidna said in a low tone, as he walked downstairs and out the door to a white, mobian-designed sedan that sat in his driveway.

As the street lights began to flicker on and the sun slowly descending beyond the horizon, Fenix thumbed through his contacts list in his phone using a D-pad on the steering wheel of the vehicle, after selecting the number that he wanted there was a brief period of waiting as the call was being made. " _Ah, Fenix what can I do for you this evening?_ " came an aloof sounding voice through the car's speakers.

The Echidna winced at the owner's voice, he hated the vice president of his company but he had to deal with him regardless. "I won't be in town for the board meeting tomorrow, I've business with G.U.N."

" _And here I thought you hated dealing with G.U.N._ " The contact said sarcastically.

Fenix bit his tongue as his patience wore thin at this point, he knew his vice president was trying to get under his skin and it was working. "I'm in no mood to play games Whitlam and it is unrelated to their requests. My assistant has been informed of my plans and will be taking my place at the meeting." he stated plainly, making sure that James Whitlam knew that he was still going to be kept in the loop of all decisions and topics discussed at the meeting.

" _So you're letting me know that your assistant will be temporarily taking your place? Is that all?_ " The vice president got his answer from the connection being severed by the Echidna, who had enough of hearing his irritating voice and focused on the dimly lit road and the journey before him.

" _Do you think he knows"_ A synthesized voice said from a darkened corner of James Whitlam's home.

The young human male shook his head. "Even if he, did it's already too late to do anything." the vice president got up and prepared a glass of whiskey for himself. "I'll be in control of everything and you'll have your data." he took a sip of the alcohol.

The source of the voice beeped in confirmation _"For your sake, you had better be correct."_ It exited the window and soared off into the sky, leaving a trail of smoke behind him.

James Whitlam topped up his glass with more whiskey "He's nothing more than a washed has been, what's he going to do? Tie me up and hand me to the cops." he slammed down the stopper on the decanter in annoyance, he hated being questioned

To Be Continued


	3. Darkness Rising - Part 3

**A/N:** By now you may have already guessed that there is a title change, so please bear with me.

* * *

 **Chronicles of Fenix the Echidna**

 **Darkness Rising - Part 3**

The next day at Guardian Mountain, the largest natural landmark in Central City and home of the Guardian Units of the Nation, making it veritable fortress and the most secured site within the United Federation. As the elevator descended into the heart of the the concrete fortress beneath Central City, the tension in the air was so thick that one could cut it with a knife. "Koff...Good to have you back son and on board with our project here." Commander Abraham Tower tried to clear the air of any long standing animosity that Fenix may have for him and G.U.N.

The Echidna dressed in a leather jacket, blue shirt and jeans just stared at the blue-grey elevator doors "I'm not your son and I am nine hundred and fifty years your senior." He said coldly, betraying little emotion.

The old Overlander's features hardened, he knew where the veiled hostility was coming from. "You know we had to take precautions." he said plainly.

"Precautions that you could have taken when I warned you." Fenix retorted coldly.

Abraham Tower face didn't change, in fact he had played this game countless of times for different people. "All we had was your word." He rebuked with the same emotionless tone as the Echidna

The exiled Nocturnus frowned. "My word and technology that wasn't used by anyone else at the time." he still couldn't figure out why G.U.N. insisted on using the same line over and over again to defend their actions, when the obvious was staring them in the face.

Commander Tower was about to reply when the elevator pinged, indicating that they had arrived at their destination. "We're here."

As he walked down the corridor Fenix took note on the various discussions going on around him, some about the status of what they had acquired, plans for the weekend and so on however one conversation did pique his interest "Did you hear what happened to Rodriguez?" One of the soldiers on patrol, a private judging by rank on his uniform, asked his comrade.

"No, what happened?" The other private responded upon hearing the latest gossip going around.

"He resigned" The one that initiated the conversation answered.

The second private's eyes widened, shocked at hearing the news "What? He was twisting guns into pretzels and he then leaves, what gives?" He said incredulously.

The first private just shrugged and shook his head "I dunno, just telling you what I heard." Their conversation continued on after they turned the corner, however it descended into nothing but pointless banter.

The Echidna's mind began working, humans suddenly gaining immense strength didn't sound normal and what was stranger was the talk of this individual's disappearance after such a miraculous feat. "..." He soon found himself staring off into space as he began wondering on how he could find out more on what he had just heard.

The commander looked back at the musing Echidna after stopping outside a large reinforced door that opened for only those with an authorised key card. "Over here." Abraham Tower called Fenix over to his side before swiping his card through the reader.

As the armoured door slid to the left and revealed a room filled with various equipment designed for taking readings and conducting experiments on a large golden ring with seven octagonal bumps on the surface. "Sir, I don't see why you feel the need to bring an outsider-" One of the leading scientists approached them irritated by the intrusion and the seemingly lack of faith in their abilities.

The commander raised his hands defensively "I understand your feelings doctor, but he has experience with Precursor technology." Abraham Tower said reassuringly, however he did want to see some results and to know whether this venture was a waste of time and resources or not.

"If a team of leading scientists and technicians haven't been able figure out how to get the ring to activate yet, what chance do you think that this Noturnus reject can?" The prideful Doctor Kaspar Weissman snubbed his nose at the Echidna, it would appear that his reputation in G.U.N. preceded him and not in a good way but that didn't matter to the exile, however Shade was already giving the doctor some dirty looks and Shadow was making sure that she restrained herself.

The male Echidna just walked past the elderly man and began looking over the massive gold ring before turning his attention to a nearby whiteboard. "I may not know quantum physics and this may not be my field, but I make it a habit to continue learning and to be observant." He stated succinctly, making sure that a true scientist should not be so concerned about their reputation but continuing to be open to new ideas and input so that they may not only find the answers to their questions but also expand their horizons.

The dark hedgehog raised an eyebrow, intrigued to see what Fenix had from only just looking at the ancient artefact. "So I take it you've discovered something?" He spoke up from the most distant corner of the room that was furthest from the crowd.

" It's different..." He started, earning some mixed looks from the room but mostly frowns as some didn't understand the meaning.

Doctor Weissman gritted his teeth in frustration "See he has nothing!" He interrupted the former Nocturnus Procurator.

The heterochromia eyed commander shot the G.U.N. scientist a warning look. "Let him explain." He hoped that the Echidna could elaborate on the rather vague explanation

"The portal I came across was already active and looked nothing like this, except for the control console." Fenix glanced between the massive ring, the people in the room and the ancient console he was standing next to.

The lead scientist of the project scoffed. "How does this help us? We're wasting our time with him." Weissman interrupted yet again.

"Do you feel threatened Doctor Weissman?" Shadow shot the elderly doctor a knowing look.

The aged doctor eyed the hedgehog with a glare. "Why should I?" He said defensively, folding his arms across his chest just like Shadow.

"Then let him speak" Commander Tower insisted, the interruptions weren't getting them anywhere and he would prefer to know whether or not bringing Fenix to assist them was a mistake or not.

The Echidna turned to the Commander, ignoring the lead scientist's constant attempts to hinder the insight he was trying to give. "How is it being powered?" He asked.

Abraham Tower nodded to the question before answering it, letting Fenix know that it wasn't sensitive information. "Off the grid and we've tried using our new artificial Chaos Emeralds but we haven't had any success." The elderly human explained.

The former Nocturnus clan member brought a hand to his muzzle and thought for a moment, processing the information with his own experiences "So I can assume the reported blackouts in the city were because of the attempts to get this working." He stated the obvious before continuing on, but while it was obvious that the blackouts were caused by the warp ring, it also hinted at the fact that it required a lot more energy to activate it. "Which means that the design of the gateway in the Twilight Cage probably tapped into the energy generated by the local anomalies, that being the case it makes sense to use the emeralds." The Echidna deduced as energy sources within the Twilight Cage being extremely limited the only viable option was to use the spatial disruptions themselves to energise the gateway that he came across before he arrived on Mobius and it was the only reasonable explanation for how it had enough power to send him forwards in time.

"But it's still not turning on." Shade chimed in.

Fenix walked over to the giant warp ring, eyeing the octagonal bumps and touched the centre of one, causing a holographic image to appear briefly over it before the bulge split in two and retracted into the ancient artefact. "Do you have one of those emeralds?" The male Echidna shot his arm out, gesturing for someone to hand him an emerald while he examined the receptacle in detail

"Do it" The commander nodded and one of the scientists that was standing near a secured metal cabinet, inside were several trays, each one was filled with multiple copies of the seven chaos emeralds, after choosing one of the hardened chaos emeralds from the cabinet, the scientist walked over to the Echidna.

After Fenix placed the fake emerald into the large warp ring, the emerald was locked into place and it lit up and a series of emblems appeared along the outer edge of the ring. "How were you able to open it? Our scientists have been all over the warp gate and they've never been able to get those sockets to open." Doctor Weisman asked, unable too believe that Fenix was able to get the artefact working so easily.

Fenix gave the doctor a blank look and shrugged. "Must be a security feature created by the Precursors. After using the portal in the Twilight Cage, the system must've thought I was a Precursor." It was the only possible and reasonable explanation that he could come up with, as it was one of the only things that separated him from everyone else, the only exception being that.

"That's all speculation, pure supposition." The man protested

Commander Abraham Tower raised a hand and interrupted G.U.N.'s lead scientist. "Which is all we have." The organisation's leader nodded to a pair of soldiers by the entrance to the room. "Thank you for your assistance Fenix. The guards will show you out and remember the confidentiality agreement that you signed before entering the facility." He reminded the echidna that what he's seen is not to be revealed to the public at any point, as the guards began positioned themselves on either said of him.

"Don't forget you're still trying to get your hands on the implants my company makes" Fenix reminded the commander that he already could keep things from falling into public hands and even the military's, he was then guided to the door but not before glancing at Shade."Six o'clock at Banquet du Seigneur, tonight." He said in a low voice as he passed her, leaving the young woman in surprise before he was led to the the exit, where he would be led off base.

After their guest had left the room, the commander led Team Dark out into the hallway where he began to brief them on a new mission. "With that out of the way, Shadow I want you to act as Princess Acorn's bodyguard for the duration of her visit in Federation territory" he began and turned his attention to the female Echidna "Shade I want you to go with-" Hearing the overlandr's voice snapped her back to reality as she was still thinking about what Fenix had said

"-I can handle it on my own." The dark hedgehog interrupted with a confident tone in his voice, there was no need for the extra protection.

The commander eyed the hedgehog, not taking to kindly to having the briefing be co-opted in such a manner "Are you certain?" He said carefully, both staring each other down. "Fine, however I will have Shade on standby should you require assistance." He sighed, not wanting to waste any more time on the subject and allowed Shadow to have things his way. Shadow was their top agent and the mission was simple enough for him to handle on his own.

Shadow turned his head and huffed "Do what you want." The black and red hedgehog said flippantly with an uninterested tone, as he was more focused on getting the mission under way and done so he could train.

"Dismissed." Abraham Tower ignored the comment and brought his heels together and saluted the Mobians

As they began walking back to the barracks Shadow noticed that Shade was once again distracted and decided to see what had her attention, if he was o rely on her then she had better get her focus back."Is everything alright?" the hedgehog asked nonchalantly.

The Echidna blinked and turned to the voice seemingly startled by the question "Huh? Yeah, everything is fine...just wondering what to do tonight...that's all..." She said biting down on her pointer, she felt corned and didn't know what quite what to do as it was the first time that she was asked out and actually wanted to go.

"With Fenix?" The hedgehog knowingly added, not even bothering to look at the surprised look on the former Procurator of the Nocturnus army.

"You heard?" Shadow raised an eyebrow at the statement and pointed to his ears, he was the Ultimate Lifeform and his hearing was better than anyone else's. "Of course you did...I'm not used to this sort of thing...I don't even know what to wear...all this is so sudden..." As she ran her hand through her quills she had become flustered just thinking about tonight.

The dark hedgehog let out a sigh, holding a conversation about something pointless was exhausting and even thinking of the solution to Shade's problem was even more so, especially seeing as the solution especially because it was that person. "I'm no expert on dating, so I think you should take it up with someone who is or likes to think they are...if you intend on going." he said making sure that the Echidna was certain about going ahead with the rendezvous

"WHAT! YOU'RE GOING ON A DATE?" A pink hedgehog shouted at the top of her lungs in disbelief and shot across the sofa and got uncomfortably close to the tomato coloured Echidna. She was now debating her decision of following Shadow's advice of coming to Amy's apartment in Central City "With who and where?" She grabbed Shade's hand and leaned in closer, with sparkles in her eyes as she waited with baited anticipation.

"Fenix and at Banquet du Seigneur..." She said meekly, turning away from the pinkette as her voice trailed off from embarrassment.

Amy let go of the Echidna's hand and had a look of disappointment ecthed across her features. "I thought maybe Knuckles or even Shadow but Fenix?" She said the last name with a bit of spite, she was still resentful about how rude he was and how he managed to wipe the floor with her

Shade huffed and turned her head indignantly. Amy didn't know Fenix like she did and a part of her was glad that the pink hedgehog didn't, but she didn't like how her suitors were being automatically chosen by someone else. "Just because Shadow and I work together, doesn't mean we're a couple and how often have you seen Knuckles? The only one that has seen him more than you and me is Rouge, and that's only to get at the Master Emerald." She stated

"Fair point I guess...but Banquet du Seigneur...four and a half stars...good thing he can afford it." She added, the French restaurant was not only expensive but also popular among couples on a dinner date.

She looked down bashfully. "Which is why I came here...if it were for something like a casual date at a cafè or a cinema I'd be fine but I don't have anything for a fancy restaurant." Shade wasn't much of what one would call a "girly-girl" but more along the lines of a tomboy, so her choice of apparel was pretty limited

Amy stood up proudly "Looks like you came to the right place then." The hedgette said with confidence and led the Echidna to her room, where she flung the doors of her ornate closet wide open. "I have a few dresses for such occasions, got to be ready for when Sonic finally asks me out." The young woman was still hopeful that 'Hero of Mobius' would return to New Mobotropolis or make his way to Station Square and they could finally be a couple.

The former Procurator raised an eyebrow. "Have you ever thought of asking out Shadow?" She said smugly, getting her own back at Amy for trying to pair her off.

The female hedgehog went beet red at the thought. "WHA-WHAT! I mean...just because I asked about you and Shadow doesn't mean you can ask me about it...it's not like I've toyed with the idea at times or anything...even though I do worry about him...BUT MY HEART BELONGS TO SONIC!" She said nervously, rambling which led to a slip of the tongue and denial before the loud outburst.

Shade sweat dropped at Amy's rampant protests. "How about we forget what I said? Who knows Shadow and Sally might hit it off while on the royal visit." She tried to redirect the conversation and burden on the hedgehog's heart. For sometime now, the blue streak had been acting strange by being more aggressive and reckless which put a strain on the relationships with his friends and his romance with the princess.

"Yeah...who knows? Can we change subjects?" Amy laughed nervously, while she had dedicated her heart to Sonic a part of her couldn't help feel somewhat uncomfortable about the comment even if it was meant a joke. She stopped searching and her eyes widened. "Here I think this will look good on you." The pink hedgehog pulled out a black evening and held it in front of the echidna.

Shade however felt it was a bit much and wasn't sure the style would suit her"I don't know..." She replied with uncertainty, unconsciously grabbing her arm.

Amy gave her a confident smile "Trust me." The pinkette then brought out a matching choker, high heels and a headband to go with the dress and then headed to the dresser to get some make up. "I'll make sure he doesn't take his eyes off of you." She said with determination

Outside the restaurant, a well dressed Fenix the Echidna could be seen slowly walking back and forward, talking on a sleek black and red mobile phone. _"Are you certain this is wise sir?"_ Chiron spoke with concern.

The echidna could understand why the A.I. was troubled however he had to take a chance and let out a sigh before speaking. "Wise or not Chiron, I have to be certain." He stated as he a number of concerns himself, such as the mystery strength of the soldiers and their decisions to leave the service, among other things.

The automated housekeeper and personal assistant understood the situation fully and eventually accepted his creator's reasoning. _"Very well if that is what wish sir, enjoy your evening with Miss Shade."_ A.I. added

The Echidna pinched the ridge of his nose. "For the last time it's not a..." he was interrupted by a tap on his shoulder and turned around to see who it was but had his words taken aback by Shade's appearance.

Shade looked down, feeling somewhat embarrassed about her current appearance as it as her first time going out on a date and wearing a dress with make up on. "Um...Sorry that I'm late, I'm not used to wearing high heels or a dress. You didn't have to wait outside for me." She said shyly while fidgetting

Fenix blinked dumbly before snapping back to reality "No..uh...I just thought that it'd save us a lot of trouble at the door if we go in together and would it'd be faster." He reasoned and offered the female echidna his arm, which she took with little hesitation. As they walked through the door, Shade felt some eyes focus on her and she shrank into Fenix's arm. "The dress looks good on you." Noticing how uncomfortable she looked. The male echidna decided to say something to cheer her up or at least take her mind off of the stares

Her eyes widened at the compliment that she had received from her long time crush and blushed "You..you think so?" She tried to hide her reddened face

"Of course I do." He reassured her as they approached the podium at the entrance of the restaurant and met the head waiter.

The waiter at the podium was a balding human with thin moustache dorning his face and had an arrogant look about him. "Name?" The waiter said with a pompous tone as he looked down on the two Mobians.

"Fenix the Echidna, table for two." He said simply to the waiter.

The balding man's eyes shot open in alert, when he heard the name and is demeanour completely changed from before. "R...right this way sir." The waiter said hurriedly and escorted the pair to their table.

As they were guided to their seat, Shade rested her head against Fenix's arm "I was quite surprised when you asked me out to dinner tonight." She said in content.

However the male echidna though had his mind on other matters, as he noticed a number of eyes that were fixed on him and the young woman on his arm _'Great paparzzi just what I need'_ he let out a long breath and pinched the ridge of his nose before returning is attention back to Shade. "Huh? Oh...consider it my way of thanking you for saving me." The echidna replied after focusing back on the young woman he was with

She looked at him sceptically as Fenix took out a chair from their designated table and offered it to her. "Took you two years to take me to dinner?" The former Nocturnus Procurator didn't believe him.

After the scarred echidna sat at the table opposite Shade, the human waiter handed them a brown leather folder each which detailed the various foods and beverages that the restaurant had to offer. "Here are your menus. While you decide on what to eat, would the gentleman and the young lady like something to drink?" the balding man asked.

"A long black coffee, please" Shade placed her order, even though this was date and Fenix would allow her to have anything she wanted she was on standby and felt it best to go easy on what she drank.

The male echidna nodded, he didn't feel like getting on the liquor too and had plans for later on, should things pan out with his investigations "One hot chocolate."

The waiter gave a curt nod to the pair and then disappeared into the kitchen "Very well, I will be back with your beverages."

He then raised an eyebrow at the tomato and peach coloured Echidna, while still reading the menu. "Building and running a company is not as an easy task as you may think." the billionaire stated matter-of-factually to her, continuing their previous discussion .

She placed her folder on the table and leaned forward and laced her fingers together. "So how are you going to thank the others? Are you going to wine and dine with them too?" She said with a sly smirk.

"And make the Master Emerald jealous?" He quipped, taking his drink from waiter as soon as it arrived and Shade did the same.

She stifled a laugh and smiled gently. "It's good to see that some of the old Fenix is in there still and that you still have a bit of a sweet tooth." she reminisced.

He stirred his hot chocolate and blew on it to cool the contents down. "Should I be flattered that someone pays close attention to me?" The male echidna looked over his mug and straight at her, causing Shade to blush lightly and turn her head away from Fenix. "Enough about me, what about you? How are things in G.U.N.?" He took a sip from the large cup, feeling a little more energised from the hot cocoa drink.

She looked down at her coffee, tapping the mug with the tips of her fingers and let out a long, deep breath before talking. "I found it hard filling in for Rouge at first, after she finished fulfilling her 'debt to society' and established her own club in the Casino District but Shadow and Omega eventually came to accept me as one of their own. I know I'm not there to replace her but it's nice to have a place where you feel like you belong, especially after...everything." She admitted, glancing up and lightly touched Fenix's hand "I just want to say sorry. I should have listened, trusted you." Shade felt like a flood gate had been opened and everything was about to spill out, it had been so long since they had a chance to finally sit down and just talk.

The male echidna cupped her hands with his and shook his head solemnly. "You were swept up by the times and I acted like a monster after Kaiya's death. If anyone is to be blamed, then it is me."

"But when you were exiled, I accepted your old position." She sounded almost desperate, as if she wanted to be punished for not following him into exile.

He shook his head again and lightly touched her cheek, surprising her in the process before relaxing and welcoming the warmth from it. "You saved more lives than I ever did and for that I could not be more proud of you, than I am now and that's what we should focus on." Fenix said gently to her as he retracted his hand "So has anything strange been happening? People suddenly becoming stronger and unexplained transfers and retirements?" He asked, getting to the point and the real reason as to why he asked her out.

"Huh? Why?" Shade looked at him blankly, wondering why he wanted to know about something that seemed rather trivial and that not many people would pay too much attention to.

He sat back in his chair and took a sip from his own mug. "Just wondering if there was any good gossip going around." The scarred echidna shrugged, trying to act coy, something that he really wasn't good at and for those that knew him well it didn't work.

The former Nocturnus Procurator raised her brow in scepticism and folded her arms. "You? Gossip? That's new, but now that you mention it-" She then remembered about hearing something amongst some of the base personnel. As the night grew long, the pair talked and enjoyed their meals, until eventually they had decided to leave the restaurant and call it a night. "Thank you, I had a wonderful time." Shade said after Fenix helped her out of the car

He walked with the female Echidna into Amy's apartment building and into the elevator. "Not a problem. However wouldn't you prefer it if I dropped you off back at Guardian Mountain?" Fenix asked leaning against a side wall with his hand in is pockets.

Shade shook her head as she pressed the button to take her up to floor that she wanted. "It is past curfew and besides I'd prefer it that only you see me like this." Once they reached Amy's floor, they walked he rest of the way in silence and quietly enjoyed each other's company until the reached the door, where Shade used he spare key she'd been given to access the apartment. "G'night." She said in a barely audible tone after kissing Fenix on the cheek, before retreating inside where she closed the door and leaned against to quieten her rapidly beating heart.

After a few seconds had past, light suddenly washed over the room from a nearby lamp and snapped Shade from her thoughts and back to reality. "So how'd it go?" Amy said with a sly smirk across her muzzle while leaning forward, eager to hear the details from the female echidna.

Once he had awoken from his own stupor, Fenix walked back to the elevator and pulled out his phone to make a call once he had deemed that no one would be eaves dropping in on him. _"Hello?"_ A tired and exhausted sounding voice came from the other end.

"Leon, it's Fenix." The Echidna replied as the elevator began its descent.

Leon was Fenix's secretary which helped him to maintain and run Hope Technologies, due to his boss being away from the office, the Lemur had been saddled with much of the paper work and was understandably tired. _"It's seven in the evening here, can't it wait until tomorrow...?"_ He pleaded to the Echidna to have mercy on him.

As the elevator stopped on the ground floor, the scarred Mobian stepped out of the lift. "Yes it can but I will need you to pull the shipping manifests, inventory lists, order forms and receipts from our factory, warehouse and also Station Square General Hospital and be sure to do a visual check of our inventory. This needs to be done first thing in the morning" He stated, ensuring that the lemur knew that this task was important and needed to be done.

" _Why? Is something wrong?"_ Leon asked with concern.

"I just want to check we have enough stock to full fill the next lot of orders" Fenix lied to keep the secretary calm and from panicking which may cause his enemies to act. "Could you download it onto a USB and send it to me through the post?" he didn't want to risk using e-mail and have the data intercepted by a hacker, also he didn't want a courier to get hurt over something that may turn out to be nothing. For something like this, it was best to let have it jumbled up and mixed in with the regular mail.

" _Are you sure? You're supposed to be coming back in a few days."_ His personal assistant replied, reminding his boss that he was due to return to Station Square soon.

As the doors closed behind him, Fenix's walked over to the parked rented vehicle on the street. "Let me worry about it Leon, just enjoy the rest of your evening." He hung up the phone and ducked into the driver's seat, it was time to pay G.U.N. a visit


	4. Darkness Rising - Part 4

**A/N:**

* * *

 **Chronicles of Fenix the Echidna**

 **Darkness Rising - Part 4**

Crickets chirruped in the cool night air, as a dark figure hugged the tree line as it made its way to Guardian Mountain before stopping at the chain link fence that surrounded the perimeter of the military base, _'Tension wires, laser security and infra-red cameras.'_ The figure mused for a moment before engaging a cloak and flew over the fence using specially designed anti-gravity wings, once on the other side the infiltrator stopped at on of the many large vents that led to the surface and scanned it for anything that might set off the alarms. _'Laser security grid and pressure sensors.'_ The figure frowned beneath its helmet, with a problem like this he was now considering the options that were available to him. He could enter cloaked and security would put it down to a fault in the system but that wouldn't eliminate the security inside the ventilation, alternatively he could try the front entrance but G.U.N. had installed cameras with thermal optics and the one thing that his cloak could not hide was his body heat. He was about to consider his third option of scaling the mountain and enter through the unguarded entrance at the roof when he noticed a small lizard scaling the side of the military stronghold _'This I can use.'_ He smirked underneath his helmet.

Moments later the entire facility was on full alert and on of the nearby guards that had been on patrol came running to the disturbance and scanned the area before turning his attention to the vent and sighed when several small reptiles crawled out. "Command this is Echo-Three-Seven, we're at the disturbance. It appears that a family of lizards have gotten into the vents again, you might as well shut it down while maintenance does a sweep." the soldier spoke into his radio.

" _Roger that Echo-Three-Seven, sending a technician team to check the ventilation system, command out."_ A voice on the other end of the radio replied to the soldier's report and then shut down the security measures within the ventilation system.

As the guard did one final sweep of the surrounding area, Fenix dropped his invisibility field and struck the soldier from behind. "Sorry" The Echidna said coolly as he used the human's own handcuff's and socks to gag him, before disappearing into the base's ventilation system.

Making his way through the ducts inside the massive mountain based facility, Fenix was able to overhear a number of conversations, however most of them were about what they had planned for when they went off duty, others were about problems at home or with someone they served with or just complaints about their assigned tasks and not pertinent to his current objective. _'fifty meters from the server room, however I'll need a distraction ready.'_ He thought and placed a button sized device against one of the emitters for the laser detection grid inside the ventilation shaft before moving on towards his objective and peered into the server room _'Two technicians, three pellets should be enough'_ Fenix the retrieved three small metallic balls from a pouch on his belt.

After the pellets fell to the ground with a clacking sound. "What was that?" One of the technicians looked towards the direction of where the sound had come from. "Has someone from the motor pool been here?" he asked.

"Not that I know of, why?" the other asked and walked over to where the first technician was crouching.

They leaned forward for a closer inspection of the small orbs. "Actually they look a little like sinkers, with that hole in them." However after that sentence, they each received a jet of anaesthetic gas sprayed in their faces and collapsed to the ground.

Carefully opening the grate, Fenix landed on the ground and surveyed his surroundings before walking over to an active terminal. _'Downloading on those that have recently left G.U.N. and just to be safe I'll include those that are missing in action.'_ The Echidna inserted a thumb drive into one of the computer's ports and began the download.

Just the the door to the server room slid open and another technician came walking in. "I couldn't find any of that zero sugar soda you were looking for...What? INTRUDER ALERT!" The technician hit the alarm by the door before receiving a knock out blow from the Echidna.

' _C'mon'_ He hurried outside to destroy the door's access panel and sealed the room from the inside before turning the lights off and severing the power to the switches with his gauntlet's energy blades.

As the Echidna continued to wait for the files to finish transferring to his USB, he could here he footfalls of a number of G.U.N. troops amass outside the room and knew that they were getting ready to break in "Almost got it sir!" one of the maintenance personnel brought in to open the door said, fiddling with the busted keypad on the other side to short circuit the locking mechanism.

There was a beep indicating that the download had been completed and then heard the door being pulled open. _'Time to disappear'_ He activated his cloak and waited for the squad of troops to enter the room before activating the device he planted earlier, by now security would have reactivated the laser sensors and with the device he attached to the sensor Fenix could use the network to create sensor ghosts to keep them occupied.

"Security this is Captain Nikolai Yezhov, we've lost sight of the intruder and the only escape route is the ventilation system, can you confirm?" the leader of the squad requested, speaking into his radio.

There was a brief paused before there was a response. _"Confirmed, the target is heading to the surface."_ A female voice stated on the other end of the radio.

"Roger that, sending a team to intercept. Captain Yezhov out." He sent his squad ahead of him and Fenix followed close behind them, however Yezhov decided to stay behind and see what their intruder decided to download and had a dark look about him when he realised what had been downloaded. "This could be a problem." He gripped the edges of the terminal tight enough that his knuckles burned white and brought up the security footage for the room prior to the lights being cut off. "So we have a rat." As he said that, a sinister smile appeared on his features and left to follow his men.

After following the soldiers to the motor pool, Fenix slipped under the nearest vehicle about to be sent out on patrol and grabbed a hold of the frame making sure to be close enough to to mask his heat signature from the thermal imaging in the camera, fortunately his armour afforded him some protection from the heat being generated by the internal combustion motor and the cloak would prevent the soldiers from seeing him during visual inspection. Once the vehicle and its occupants had being cleared, the Echidna waited until he was a good distance from the base before dropping out from under the vehicle and retreating back into the tree line. "Chiron! I have files on soldiers that have resigned and gone missing, I'm uploading them now." he dropped the cloak and began making his ascent into the city's skyline.

" _Of course sir, what do you wish me to do?"_ The A.I. with an English accent responded to Fenix's call, while he weaved through the buildings and above the traffic and cameras.

"I need you to find any living relatives, start with Miguel Rodriguez." The Echidna requested his home's inbuilt A.I. to search though the files he downloaded from G.U.N. HQ.

Chiron went silent for a moment as he received and processed the new information. _"One moment sir. He has parents living in down town Central City, Tina and Anton Rodriguez, forwarding you the address."_ He uploaded the address to Fenix's suit, just as he landed on the balcony of his hotel room.

"Good, I'll start first thing tomorrow night. Best to wait and see how they move, I'll contact you when I have more." The scarred Echidna then closed the channel as he began putting away his armour in it's secured suitcase and retired for the rest of the evening.

The very next day after the G.U.N. forces had search the area high and low for the infiltrator and any possible evidence that could tell them who it could be, however all they could go on was the three minute surveillance footage that revealed only that the intruder was in black clad armour but that was enough to get them started. "You wanted to see me Captain Yezhov?" Shade asked hesitantly as she entered the interview room inside Guardian Mountain.

The captain nodded and gestured to a chair, opposite of him. "Yes." Yezhov waited for the Echidna to take her seat at the metal table before continuing. "I know that you are off duty until further notice, but I need your opinion on something." He said sweetly.

"I'll do my best sir." The female Nocturnus replied. She had heard about he break in from the sentries on duty but she still didn't know the full details however it was becoming obvious that it had something to do with her or was related to her in some way.

He clapped his hands together and picked up a remote which was next to him on the table. "Excellent! Then could you tell me who this is? The design is similar to Nocturnus armour however we have not come across this unit before." The middle aged captain said after turning on a television in the corner of the room.

The question and the image had caught her off guard for a moment and she began thinking of whom the figure on the screen could be but only could come up with one answer however she shook her head at the notion, _'Surely he wouldn't do such a thing'_ she thought. "The survivors in New Nocturne were ordered to hand over their weapons and armour to G.U.N. and the Republic of the Kingdom of Acorn for disposal, in exchange they'd be allowed to find a region to settle on Mobius and be left in peace. I don't know who'd jeopardise the peace by breaking the arrangement." She stated to her superior officer looking once again at the image on the screen.

"So you don't know anything about the armour?" Yezhov could tell that the Mobian knew something but for now it was best to play along.

The female Echidna shook her head. "No, I do not." Shade firmly replied to the question.

The human stood up and walk toward o the door of the interview room and opened it. "Thank you for your time, you may go." Captain Nikolai Yezhov gestured to the exit and watched her leave the room. "Follow her when she leaves but keep your distance." Yezhov ordered the two soldiers from his squad that had been guarding the door.

"Yes sir!" They stood at attention and then saluted in confirmation before following their orders and their intended target.

"We got some rats it seems" An aged man in a white lab coat approached the captain, looking unimpressed by the current situation.

Nikolai exited the room and closed the door as he entered the hallway. "Nothing I can't handle doctor." He stated confidently but made certain that his voice was kept low enough so that no one else could pick up on their conversation

The G.U.N. scientist looked at Nikolai with scepticism. "What about our loose ends?" He inquired, he would have taken care of it himself but it would arouse unwanted attention if he was caught giving out orders to the grunts.

Captain Yezhov glanced at the grey haired man. "They're being taken care of as we speak." He said plainly, it didn't take a genius to know what he meant.

"Just be sure not to leave any evidence." The scientist warned the G.U.N. officer, making sure that he knew that if he were to screw this up that he was on his own on all accounts.

Although he didn't like the implication that he was incompetent, Yezhov couldn't deny that there were too many variables in play and that things could go wrong quickly. "I know the drill Doctor Weissman."

"See that you do captain, see that you do." The scientist said with finality before walking down the hall towards his office to finish an experiment and prepare for a quick escape. Should the intruder discover enough evidence to incriminate him and leak it to the Commander, no jury on Mobius would let him off.

As the afternoon traffic began to fill the streets of down town Central City, Fenix drummed his fingers on the steering wheel of the hire car as he had a conversation with James Whitlam over the phone and waited for the lights to change colour _"So you haven't returned because you're looking to open another branch of the company in Central?"_ The vice president said with a snarky tone, not really buying the excuse for the extension of his leave of absence.

"That is what I just said." He replied, doing his best not to snap at the middle-aged human.

Fenix could almost hear James' eyes roll over the phone. _"Right and I am sure that you're not there just for the night life."_ The echidna knew what the human was talking about and was surprised that his dinner with Shade had already made it s far as Station Square.

The Echidna subconsciously tucked the Club Rouge business card that he'd been given earlier in the day, deep into his suit pocket. "It was a meeting with a friend and I've sent a memo with the proposal along with a list of potential sites, qualified architects and construction companies that have good track records." He stated coolly

" _So you have been busy, huh?"_ Whitlam said nonchalantly, seemingly bored by the response from the current president of Hope Technologies.

"If that's all, I'm going to check on a potential acquisition." Fenix then hung up the phone and looked at a file he had on an inventor in the city looking for funding for her aircraft designs, before turning on the radio to listen to the local news.

" _Breaking news! A fire has broken out at the Diamond Coast Convention Centre! We have confirmation that there are indeed people trapped in the inferno and fire fighters are trying their best to get them, we will have more as the story unfolds."_ The news cast ended just as he entered the parking garage of the hotel that he was staying at. Bringing the vehicle to a stop in the reserved spot at the Intercontinental, he picked up the files off of the passenger side seat and placed them in his metal suitcase before making his way over to the elevator to go to his suite.

When he reached his floor, the Echidna stepped into the hall and immediately felt uncomfortable by the atmosphere however he couldn't pin down the reason, however as he made it to his room he knew for certain one of the reasons was due to the eyes on his back from the electrician pretending to do maintenance and the bus boy that wasn't assigned to his floor. Entering the suite, he began wondering about the possibility of already being discovered or that someone from the board actually hiring to take him out already. "Fenix" The train of thought was broken when he heard Shade's voice from the sofa, sounding more than a little irritated.

Giving Shade a cursory glance, he set his briefcase down before turning to the young woman in a black jacket, white shirt and blue jeans. "How, what and why?" The exiled Nocturnus clan member asked.

"I figured that you would want a hotel relatively close but not to close to G.U.N HQ and it need to be relatively high. In order to get in here, all I had to say was that I was your fiancée and wanted to surprise you when you got back." The female Echidna had a smug look on her face at being able to track him down however the last bit earned a sceptical look from Fenix.

"The concierge believed you?" He had a hard time believing that the front desk would allow just anyone in his room without checking.

She shook her head from side-to-side. "Not at first but fortunately they had the daily edition and I showed the picture a paparazzi at the restaurant took of us." The tomato coloured Echidna held up the newspaper on the page that had the picture of them entering the restaurant together.

He should have guessed that's how it went down however he couldn't believe that the concierge at the front desk could be so gullible. "Amy?" Fenix asked, wondering how Shade found out about the picture in the newspaper.

"Amy" The female stated bluntly, nodding in affirmation "As for why I am here, I'm certain that you can guess why." She glowered at the scarred Echidna.

It was time to play dumb. "No I cannot." He replied, turning on the television and increasing the volume so that their voices would appear to blend in with whatever was on.

She balled her fists tightly and bit down on her lip before speaking "You broke into the G.U.N. server room and you put our people at risk!" Shade exclaimed, she couldn't believe that he was acting so casual about what he had done. "I've worked hard to make up for the wrong our people have done to the people of this world and for the mistakes that I've made, then you come along and jeopardise all that and what is worse you used me! How could you?" Her voice was hoarse as she was on the verge of tears.

"I had to." He said unapologetically, looking her square in her lilac eyes before watching her race to the door, it was then he realised that he had seen the hotel staff before and chased after Shade. "WAIT!" He managed to catch up to her and grabbed her by the arm.

She struggled in his grip "Let go!" The female Echidna demanded, earning the looks from the electrician and the bus boy that were still in the hall pretending to do their jobs.

"Wait!" He said again in low and husky tone, closing the gap between them.

"What are you...?" Her sentence was cut short when Fenix pressed his lips firmly against hers and in a passionate kiss and seemingly melted in his arms, causing the onlookers to turn their eyes away out of embarrassament

After guiding Shade back to the suite, Fenix broke the lip lock and walked over to the lounge are where he used the back of the sofa for support, feeling guilty over forcing himself on her. "I'm sorry." He said, refusing to look at her out of shame

Still dazed, she lightly touched her lips and blushed before coming back to reality with a blinked of her eyes. "F-for what?" Shade had waited a long time to receive a proper kiss from her former superior however she had not expected an apology to follow shortly after..

He sat on the back of the sofa and finally looked at her. "For using you and I still am...you were followed from G.U.N. Headquarters, I recognised the electrician and bus boy from one of the squads that was deployed last night." he stated to the newest member of Team Dark.

"What?" She didn't believe him and opened the door just a little, managing to catch a glimpse of one of the staff and sure enough she was able to recognise one of Yezhov's men.

He stood up and walk over to the metal briefcase and pulled out a folder from a hidden compartment and tossed it onto the coffee table "I broke in because of some strange orders that were bring placed or to be more accurate, orders being fulfilled that were never made." Shade walked over to the table and began look through the files.

"What does that have to do with the Guardian Units of the Nation?" She shook her head trying to understand the link that he made between stolen inventory from a company to an organisation that is meant to protect the United Federation.

"This has everything to do with them. Since the release and distribution of the implants to hospitals and the restriction to only civilians, G.U.N. pestered me to allow them the use of the implants so that they could improve the effectiveness of their soldiers." He showed her all of the demands sent to him from the research and development sector of the Federation's armed forces. "However it was only up until recently that they stopped without giving a reason as to why." Fenix explained.

She frowned, thinking that he was jumping at shadow and looking for an excuse. "Do they need a reason?" Shade asked him.

He nodded but only slightly. "Usually they'd send a letter that acknowledges the position of the individual with a veiled threat inserted somewhere."

She let out a sigh and sat on the couch. "I doubt they'd...yeah I suppose you're right" She paused mid sentence and remembered the negotiations between the Nocturnus and the nations that existed on Mobius.

"The loss of communication happened around the same time that the phantom orders were being made." He continued "I have Rouge looking into the accounts of those on the board of directors. It did cost me a ruby and a sapphire or two but it's to be expected when dealing with a former jewel thief." Fenix tossed the business card from the bat's nightclub, located in the Night Babylon district of the city, onto the coffee table.

Shade picked up the card and glared at it. "You gave her rubies and sapphires?" She spoke slowly, trying to contain her frustration.

The male Echidna just nodded "Diamonds are used in some of the technology we develop. Every so often we get some other precious stones mixed in with them and I needed outside help because I don't know how deep this is. The two situations mutually benefited each other." As he explained this, Fenix looked up and saw the irritation in Shade's face and knew that she'd like to get something nice like that from him but he wasn't the one for domestics "What?" He said carefully, deciding to act oblivious to her mood.

"Nothing..." She pouted, turning her head away.

The scarred Echidna breathed a sigh and ran a hand through his quills, trying to get comfortable again and continue the conversation. "In any case from what you have told me, the soldiers in G.U.N. that were able to perform some sort of spectacular feat either 'resigned' or were immediately sent off to some hot zone, only to be listed as MIA shortly after arrival." he pointed to the files that he downloaded the previous night.

"You're right, it doesn't make sense." She mused, starting to see why Fenix infiltrated the base and understand why she was kept in the dark. "But why didn't you allow them access in the first place?" Shade asked turning to him, wondering if having G.U.N.'s soldiers enhanced was such a bad thing.

He simply frowned. "Because it'll do more damage than good." Fenix stated, preferring not to go into further detail however he knew that Shade would not be content on such a simple answer.

"I don't understand." She shook her head, cybernetics wasn't really her field of expertise.

Fenix flexed his hand and stared at for a while before speaking. "The body can only take so much before it gives out and augmenting it beyond what it can handle can potentially cause life threatening problems. Muscles can tear, the heart could fail and the brain could overload and the only way pass that hurdle is to completely rebuild the body from the ground up." The scarred echidna dropped his hand and walked over the glass sliding door that led to the balcony, she obviously and unintentionally touched a subject that they both knew full well "The implants that I create are meant to restore functionality not enhance it. I will not curse anyone to the existence of a mere tool to be used and then thrown away." He balled his fist as he leaned and looked out at the sky which had been stained orange and purple by the setting sun.

The situation was clearly of a personal matter and partially explained why he had the prototype Nocturnus armour and why he was doing this alone. "Fenix..." Shade's features soften as she got up to comfort him. After she had been considered a traitor Pir'Oth Ix, Nestor had informed her that the Imperator's true intentions for reviving Fenix was to turn him into another weapon for war like he did with the Gizoid units. After being cast aside so violently for finally coming to his senses and then being hunted as an enemy by his own Nocturnus clan, it was no wonder he felt strongly about it,

However the female Echidna stopped in her tracks when Fenix turned to the television upon hearing the introduction theme for the news. _"There's been a news update on the situation at the Diamond Coast Convention Centre. Fire fighters have managed to make their way inside and have found survivors inside the building, however it would appear that they are in critical condition. Authorities at the scene believe the fire was a deliberate act started by the the vigilante seen in Station Square and responsible for the break in at G.U.N. HQ. If you see this figure, please contact the number below and allow the Guardian Units of the Nation to handle the situation."_ The anchorwoman read the report on the fire at the Convention Centre and labelled Fenix as an enemy of the state.

However that wasn't what had the former Nocturnus' attention, what had his interest was the names of the victims at the bottom of the screen. "Thompson, Wilcox, Sanders and Rodriguez ! They're the family names of those that supposedly went missing." Fenix turned and walked into the bedroom to get changed into his armour.

Shade had a hard time understanding what she was hearing. "But they all resigned." She frowned and returned to the coffee to examine the files again.

The male Echidna put on the body glove and armour "No the dossiers I downloaded states that they're missing in action." He pulled on his gauntlets, boots and fastened his utility belt.

"Even those that are said to have resigned are be relabelled..." Her lilac eyes scanned the papers of those that supposedly left the service. However she then realised Fenix's intentions "Where are you going? You can't seriously be thinking of investigating the fire! It's obviously a trap!" The young woman protested, stopping outside the door to the next room.

He slipped his quills into the helmet and made sure they were secured comfortably. "I have to, I'm responsible." Fenix replied, fastening the face plate into position, which changed his voice so he wouldn't be immediately recognised by anyone.

"Then I'm coming with you to-" She burst into the bedroom to briefly see Fenix wearing his clad black armour before feeling something sprayed in her face causing her body go heavy and losing consciousness.

After spraying an anaesthetic at Shade from a small aerosol can from his belt, the male Echidna caught her in both arms before she hit the ground. "Sorry." Fenix apologised n a soft voice, carrying her over to the bed and placed her in a comfortable position before making his way over to the window and opening the balcony doors. "But you'll be safer here." He said with finality before launching himself off the railing to head to the burnt remains of the Diamond Coast Convention Centre.

To Be Continued


	5. Darkness Rising - Part 5

**A/N:** Last chapter for the story arc is coming soon.

* * *

 **Chronicles of Fenix the Echidna**

 **Darkness Rising - Part 5**

" _Sir, you do realise that Miss Shade does have a point. If they went to the effort of labeling you as a fugitive and as public enemy number one, then it most certainly is a trap"_ The familiar English accent came through the communications system within Fenix's helmet, while he concentrated on navigating the maze of buildings in Central City and closed in on his target.

"I am already well aware of the possibility, however because we do not how far this goes we need our own evidence." As the Convention Centre came into view, he flew over the burnt out remains and surveyed the area to check for anyone that may get in the way of his investigation. Once he deemed that it was clear, he found a clearing and landed, stumbling a little before managing to find his centre of gravity. _'How do the Decurions do it?'_ Fenix shook his head and deactivated the flight wings. "Stay on this channel and begin recording everything for immediate analysis." The Echidna made sure to keep his voice low, even if he didn't see anyone on the way in, that didn't eliminate the possibility of someone hiding in a dark corner.

As he entered the destroyed building, the smell of ash filled his nostrils and broken pieces of glass and tile crunched underneath his boots. "We'll need to find out where the fire started, however we also need to find out why no one used the fire doors and why the sprinkler system failed." the Echidna walked over the scorched concrete floor to the emergency exit inside the hall that the humans had been found in.

While Fenix began inspecting the doors, Chiron queried the computers of the Central City Police Department and the Fire Department on these subjects by piggy backing through the Station Square Police Department. _"It would appear no malfunction had been reported in the investigation report done by the police department sir."_ That was of no surprise, given the current situation. _"However the fire department did note the delay in response from the suppression system and the doors were hard to open."_ The A.I. stated.

After finishing his examination, Fenix touched his right gauntlet which activated a small red keypad that hovered a few millimetres in the air above his arm and he selected the scanner option that connected his helmet, which displayed the results, to the sensors on each of his fingers in his gauntlets. "Scratch marks on the interior and signs of warping. The door was locked until the fire department arrived and with the delay in the activation of the sprinkler system, that means this place was also hacked." He muttered to himself and walked back out in to the main hall over to an impression made on the floor. "Judging by the shape it appears that a rubbish bin was here and one of many ignition sites, initial scans reveal nothing, deeper scans reveal faint accelerant traces...nothing too unusual but we'll have to run a further analysis later." There was a rumble outside, the sign of a thunder storm approaching.

That was the cue that the two figures, which had been hiding on the catwalks in high ceiling of the convention centre, needed to make their appearance. "So it looks like the captain was right, we did manage to catch a pest scurrying around." One of the humans dressed in a black uniform and body armour said.

"Shut up and let's end it quickly." The other stated, not wanting to waste any more time than needed and was dressed in a similar uniform and set of body armour.

" _Sir..."_ Chiron started.

"I know, it's an ambush." Fenix interrupted in a low tone, watching one of the soldiers draw out a combat knife from its sheath around their leg.

" _That was not what I was going to alert you to sir."_ The A.I. interjected. _"I am picking up an electronic signal emanating from multiple points on their persons."_ Chiron reported to the Echidna, whom was now in a defensive stance and watched the men approach cautiously.

The first soldier blindly charged at Fenix with his drawn knife, however the shorter Echidna stepped to the side, stuck his leg out and tripped the hitman and gave him a small push for extra precaution and to use the sensors in his gauntlet to get a scan of his body. _'Implants, modified for high performance'_ He began dodging the fists of the other, ducking left from right. _'No wonder they wanted to end it swiftly.'_ He punched the human in front of him in the gut as hard as he could to knock the wind out of him and followed up in quick succession with an uppercut to the jaw and connecting his foot to the man's face. What the Echidna did not see however was that the other soldier had gotten back up with his blade at the ready and plunged into Fenix's side, "GAH!" Thanks to the augmentations in his opponents, the knife was able to pierce through the layered armour and the Echidna responded by elbowing the soldier's wrists and kicking back at the human before stumbling forward and without hesitation pulled out the knife and threw it into the darkness.

"Not so tough now." The first soldier taunted, noticing Fenix hold his side. The second assassin got up from the floor and rubbed his jaw and joined his partner to begin the next round of the fight.

Shaking his head as blood began to seep from his wound, the Echidna touch his gauntlet and turned off the sensors and activated the emergency seals in his armour so that he didn't drip blood over the floor. _'Damn it! I got careless'_ Fenix then injected himself with a steroid to help him move despite the injury and returned the injector into its pouch on his warp belt. Once his stamina and returned, Fenix drew out three diamond shaped knives with red blades and tossed them at the concrete and steel ceiling.

"Where are you aiming?" The mouthy black ops soldier called, watching the blades disappear into the darkened rafters of the burned out building, however Fenix just backed away slowly as a series of explosions rocked the convention centre and bits of roof fell to the floor with a deafening sound "Son of a $#!% !" Both of the assassins jumped back and the Echidna used the distraction to make his escape through the hole he had just made, confident that the DNA evidence was buried under a several tonnes of steel, aluminium and concrete.

Rain began to fall from the heavens as the storm had set in and with a crack of thunder, Shade shot up in the bed of Fenix's suite. "WHA-!" She gasped and then held her head as she regained her senses. "Hngh! He drugged me." The female Echidna, as she slowly turned her body to the side of the bed the phone began to ring and the former Procurator picked the receiver up and slowly brought it to her ear. "Hello?" She answered.

" _Sorry to disturb you but there is a call for Mister Fenix."_ The clerk at the front desk apologised for anything that he may have been interrupting.

She ran her hand through her spines as the pounding in her head stopped. "I'll take it, he's a bit indisposed at the moment." Shade decided to cover for the other Echidna.

There was a brief pause and the former Procurator swore that she could hear a grin form on the clerk's face through the phone. _"I see, I'll put it through."_

"Thank you" Shade responded with a sigh, she couldn't believe how quickly people's minds went to the gutter during these times but with the state of human media, it was of no surprise to her.

There was a click as the phone line was switched over so that the call could go through. _"Fenix, you were right..."_ Came a hurried voice from the other side of the phone.

"Sorry Rouge, he's out at the moment." She admitted to her predecessor that now owned the popular night club, Club Rouge and had her own underground intelligence network.

This caught the bat off guard and decided to try and change the subject quickly. _"Oh!? Shade! How's it going sweetheart? How is the team?"_ She asked, hoping that the female Echidna might be swept up in the new topic.

Shade realised what Rouge was attempting to do and just smiled but she also knew that there was some honest interest in the bat's voice. "They're doing fine and don't worry he's told me everything." She assured the former spy that there was no need to give her the run around and could pass on the information on to Fenix.

Rouge nodded in response. _"Good. I'll send the data to you so that you can pass it on."_ She kept her words simple and concise so that she could wrap up the phone call as soon as possible.

"To avoid alerting those involved?" She may not like the cloak and dagger routine and the deception that went into it but she was well aware of what was involve in such matters.

" _Precisely sweetie. Oh and try not to wear him out too much, okay?"_ She said playfully, baiting the poor Echidna woman.

Shade felt her cheeks warm up in response. "WHA-WHAT ARE YOU IMPLYING?" She stuttered at the incredulous accusations however she couldn't deny that she had not thought about it on occasion.

" _Bye"_ Rouge responded again with playful tone and a satisfied grin before hanging up the phone on her end

"WAIT!" The former Nocturnus Procurator called out to the bat in a vain attempt to explain herself however when the dial tone started, she gave up and slumped forward in defeat "..." Shade groaned, feeling uncomfortable from that last exchange.

On the other side of town, Fenix found himself darting from rooftop to rooftop, dodging bullets from marksmen and the ever vigilant spotlight of the C.C.P.D.'s patrol helicopter. _"Suspect found, heading south through Westopolis."_ The pilot reported to snipers nearby, however the Echida's movements were to keep the police guessing as to where he was going, away from where he was staying and incidentally Shade.

" _Roger that, moving into position."_ The city's S.W.A.T. team respond and closest squad on a nearby building moved to the ledge and began raining down hot lead to pin Fenix down on the adjacent rooftop. Fortunately after Fenix had Chiron check the Central City Police Department's records, he also had their frequencies and was able to make it to cover before they had a chance to tag him. _"Lost sight on the target."_ Hiding behind an air conditioning unit, the Echidna knew that it was a matter of time before a squad was sent to the roof and his stealth field didn't exactly work in the rain. Taking a closer look at the unit and found enough space for him to hide

" _That is an affirmative we do not have eyes on target."_ The helicopter made another pass over the roof that he was on, however this was the moment that he chose to strike back and took careful aim to hit the light with one of his standard throwing knives that he liked to call 'razors' _"We've lost our searchlight, the suspect is still on the roof."_ The pilot reacted almost immediately after the blade shattered the bulb of the helicopter's light and pulled back to avoid further damage.

" _Moving in!"_ A S.W.A.T. team inside the building responded to the pilot's call and burst out onto the roof and began to look high and low for Fenix. As one of the members of the squad passed his location, the Echidna struck by knocking the human to the ground and swiftly getting him into a hold until they ran out of oxygen and were unconscious. Taking the handcuffs off of the unconscious officer and a smoke grenade before charging two more, after pulling the pin out and tossing the grenade to one, the Echidna leaped up and kicked the other in the head, swiftly cuffed his hand while threading the handcuffs through the building's radio mast and arrested the now coughing S.W.A.T. team member and took their own keys, radios and weapons off of them.

"He's up here!" One of the handcuffed officers called out and shouts could be heard from the stairwell, responding to the cry for help. However as soon as the first sign of dark blue could be seen coming at the door, Fenix ran across the roof kicked the door shut, sending the next team of S.W.A.T. tumbling back down the stairs and into a pile. To avoid being shot in the back, Fenix the Echidna opened the fire exit door a crack and dropped a small metallic ball on the top step and gave it a small flick to get the ball as it rolling down the stairs, confused about what was happening and curious about purpose of pellet, the officers waited with baited breath until small ball rested at their feet however this would prove to be their undoing as anaesthetic gas filled the stair well and knocked them out cold.

Feeling light headed and drowsy, the exiled Nocturnus shook his head and knew that if he didn't rest shortly and stop the bleeding, he'd be good as dead. Refocusing, he turned his attention to the helicopter and ran across the roof and leapt off to glide towards the air unit. _"Get him off!"_ The pilot shouted to his co-pilot after seeing the black figure grab one ofthe rungs on the helicopter, respondingto the pilot's demand, the co-pilot got his gun out and began firing at the Echidna however the Mobian was more nimble and managed to knock the weapon out his hand before moving to the other side to access the engine and sliced through the fuel line enough to give it a slow leak " _We're losing fuel, we have to set her down."_ The pilot reported back to C.C.P.D.

" _Roger, sending another air unit to your position."_ They replied to the distress call.

The pilot nodded in affirmation, watching their target fly off into the night. _"Confirmed dispatch. Suspect is continuing south from our position."_ He made certainto update the department on the movement of their target. After flying for a few meters, Fenix found a construction site that had an open manhole that connected to the sewers of Central City and immediately stopped his flight to drop down and began travelling beneath pursuers through the undercity, however the Echidna's progress would only be slowed by the lack of blood.

As the lightning subsided, the rain continued to soak every crack of the city and puddles became large pools of water spilling over the sidewalks. Watching events unfold on the news, Shade gazed out the large windows of the Intercontinental and wondered where the male Echidna was and if he was okay. "Fenix where are you?" She said forlornly with a sigh, bringing her legs to her chest. Just as she was about to change the channel, she heard something flop into a puddle on the suite's balcony and cautiously made her way to see what it was however when she noticed the crest, followed by the blood starting to seep through the body glove, she immediately rushed to his side, "FENIX! What happened?" The young woman carried him over to the bed and removed his helmet.

He swayed back and forth as he tried to stay sitting up right. "Bandages in the en-suite, under the sink." The male echidna managed to say, removing his gauntlets.

Shade hurried to the bathroom and found the bandages, when she came back to the bedroom, she saw Fenix struggling with the body armour and helped him out. "You're wounded and it's deep. We have to get you to a hospital" She lightly touched the gash on his abdomen and pleaded with him to go seek medical help after realising how serious it was.

He held onto the young woman's shoulder for support as his head was still swimming. "NO! No Hospital." If he were to go to the hospital as he was now, he'd more than likely be taken in as a suspect. Fenix then fumbled with the dressings for is injury. "Just...need to...wrap it up." The Echidna grunted as he wrapped his wound up.

Shade gently grabbed Fenix by the hand and took the bandage from him. "Let me help you with that." Her voice was soft and kind as she tended to the scarred Echidna.

"Thanks..." He said feeling awkward and vulnerable, something that he hated at the moment.

The female Echidna just shook her head from side-to-side as she concentrated on bandaging the wound. "It's nothing." She said simply "Rouge called looking for you." The male eased back and went tense, he missed the former spy's call and Shade was the one that answered it. "Hold still!" She said sternly, placing a hand on his shoulder and repositioning herself. "She sent the information from her investigation to me."

He realised that the other former Procurator was already in too deep and she would not allow him to do this on his own, letting out an exhausted sigh Fenix scratched his head. "What did she find?" He asked simply.

"Three of your board members have received some anonymous donations and they've been traced back to an unmarked offshore account that has been accessed from a terminal at G.U.N. Headquarters, more specifically Captain Yezhov's computer." Shade finished bandaging up the male Echidna's abdomen and fastened it in place. The fact someone was treating their own troops like test subjects made her sick and that there were those willing to help them even made her more-so.

The director of Hope Technologies began picking up the pieces of his armour after hearing the news from new member of Team Dark "I have to go, I need to act on this evidence" He began slipping on the chest piece.

Her lilac eyes shot wide open in panic. "WHAT? NO! You're in no condition to do anything, you've lost too much blood and your wound..." She tried to stop him from this course of action that he was taking

"Heals faster than average." He interrupted, giving her a serious look and pulled away from her.

Shade however followed him trying to make him see reason. "You're still weak and the police are still looking for you." He slipped on his gloves, ignoring her argument "If you go out there you're good as dead!" She emphasised the last part as he began retrieving more supplies from his suitcase.

He stood up and gave her a momentary glance. "If I don't go more people are going to die!" He stated, getting ready to leave

"DAMN IT FENIX! I DON'T WANT YOU TO DIE! NOT AGAIN!" She shouted balling her fists as tears began to fall down her cheeks as her heart began to break just thinking about it. The young woman couldn't bear to see the one Mobian that she has had romantic feelings for be taken again, if that happened, it would just be too much for her to go through.

Fenix didn't look at her and prepared to put his helmet on. "I have to go..." He said coldly however before he could put his helmet on,he felt something hit his head and when he looked to see what it was, he discovered that it was one of his anaesthesia pellets and the one that threw it was none other than Shade. "Wha-?" His voice trailed off as he collapsed to the ground.

The tomato red Echidna hurried over and fell to his side, cradling him in her arms. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry." She managed to say sniffling. After she managed to regain her composure, Shade had gotten up and closed the balcony doors and curtains to stop any prying eyes from looking in and then made sure that Fenix was comfortable by placing a pllow from the bed under his head and covering him with the bed linen. "Chiron...I know that you are there Chiron" She called to the A.I. after picking up the helmet.

" _How might I be of assistance Miss Shade?"_ Chiron finally replied, deciding tht it would be safer than allowing Shade to get any ideas about taking things apart.

She walked over to the lounge area with the helmet and made herself comfortable on the sofa after uncovering a small computer that had been buried under the hotel's complimentary reading material. "Could you forward the results of Fenix's investigation to laptop?" She asked opening up the notebook and breaking the password.

" _I am able to perform this task, however I require Master Fenix's authorisation before I proceed with the download."_ The English voice stated matter-of-factually to the female Echidna.

Shade hesitated for a moment however decided that it would be best not to lie to A.I. "I had to knock him out to get him to rest and recover from his injuries." She admitted, hoping that Chiron would not lock her out completely.

" _Very good ma'am, he is not an easy individual to persuade."_ It thanked the female Echidna for stopping its owner from rushing out headlong into a possible life and death situation.

She was genuinely surprised by the gratitude that the A.I. was showing her. "You're thanking me?" Shade inquired, raising her brow..

" _I am programmed not only to meet the needs of my master but also to maintain their continued health and safety, however I cannot perform such tasks if they refuse to heed my advice."_ It stated, _"I shall transfer the files now."_ Chiron began uploading the files to the laptop out of gratitude to young woman and decided to give some advice to Fenix later.

She gave a curt bow of the head for what the A.I. was doing for her, knowing full well that what it was doing was far out of the ordinary "Thank you."

" _You are quite welcomed Miss Shade."_ Chiron replied in appreciation for the courtesy that she was showing for its efforts.

Shade spent hours pouring over the evidence that Fenix had retrieved from ruined convention centre, scrutinising every detail and double checking to see if there was anything that could point other parties however she couldn't deny what was right in front of her now. "Incredible...I can't believe that G.U.N. would sanction this." The petro-chemicals used in the incendiary devices, were only in use by the Federation' own armed forces and the trace particles from the canisters used also indicated. She fell back on the sofa and looked up at the ceiling, feeling defeated. "What do I do?" She said with a dejected voice, draping an arm across her eyes.

"You do what you must." The male Echidna replied coolly, standing above her.

She didn't hear him move and was taken by surprise causing her to sit right up. "Fenix! You shouldn't be up, your injury..." Shade's voice was filled with concern for the male.

He began unwrapping the bandage around his abdomen and allowed it to fall away. "Is healed" The blue eyed Echidna finished her sentence

"That's impossible! How?" She leapt to her feet and began checking where the wound had been, using her hands to see if there was a scar or any trace of it left but found nothing, pulling away only after she realised that she was invading his personal space.

He smirk tugged at the very edges of his lips and he shook his head. "I don't know myself" Fenix admitted to her and began preparing to go out once again. "However you will need to delete the files from Rouge off of your phone, once you've transferred them to my computer." He finally decided to let her in on his original plan. He tried giving her the cold shoulder, wanting to keep her from getting in any deeper however all that accomplished was a face full of knock out gas and a rest that lasted for who knows how long.

"What do you intend to do?" She asked.

He brought out a standard blank thumb drive from his laptop bag and inserted into the small computer. "Compile the evidence and give Commander Tower a copy, he's not the type to authorise a project like this and he certainly won't allow it to continue." He stated, judging the G.U.N. commander to be of good character and incorruptible.

"I could always give it to the commander." The female Echidna offered her assistance on the matter.

He didn't want to take any chances and simply shook his head in response before speaking. "You'd be intercepted and interrogated as to where you got the information." Although Fenix knew that she could handle herself, he also knew that there would be a lot of questions thrown at her if she presented the Commander with the data herself and things would progress no further than that."I'd prefer not to you put through that, just go about your daily routine as normal. I on the other hand shall head to the airport and appear to get on the plane to throw them off the trail" He advised her and informed her of the part that he'd be playing, while walking her to the door.

She nodded in acknowledgement of the plan however she couldn't help but be flustered by the amount of concern that he had for her wellbeing. "Sounds like a decent plan. I guess... I should go then." She said meekly as she entered the hall. Fidgeting for a few seconds, Shade gave into impulse and caught Fenix's lips with her own, wrapping her arms around his neck and savoured the passionate moment before letting go "Stay safe" She whispered to him and headed to the elevator with a slight spring in her step.

Fenix watched as she entered the lift and waited for her to give him a goodbye wave before closing the door to his suit. "Damn it!" He cursed under his breath and hitting the wall. Things between him and Shade were now moving in a direction that he didn't want and becoming more complicated the longer he stayed in Central City, he had to finish things up here and fast.


	6. Darkness Rising - Part 6

**A/N:** Here's the last chapter for the first arc. If you've stuck around this long and like what you've seen so far, then please don't hesitate to leave a comment.

* * *

 **Chronicles of Fenix the Echidna**

 **Rising Darkness - Part 6**

Footfalls echoed throughout the concrete halls of Guardian Mountain as G.U.N.'s military police rushed to their target to apprehend Nikolai Yezhov and his men, following close behind the M.P.s was Commander Abraham Tower with a serious look on his face as he marched towards Doctor Weissman's lab after receiving word that the man that they were looking for was headed there. "Damn it all to hell! How can Captain Yezhov do such disgusting research on his fellow servicemen?" The grey haired man thought back to the moment he had acquired the information about the brutal experiments. From what he could remember it was early morning when the black armoured creature with glowing red eyes had managed to sneak into his home and confront him, offering him not a threat but a warning that not everything is as it appears to be in G.U.N. and that if he wanted to protect the soldiers and their families, then he should look at the evidence. After reviewing the data on the thumb drive that the intruder had given him and checking the authenticity, he was disgusted by what he had discovered. "FIND CAPTAIN NIKOLAI YEZHOV AND HIS MEN! SHOOT THEM IF THEY RESIST!" Tower shouted and gritted his teeth in seething rage.

On the other side of the military facility, the wanted man had been summoned by the scientist that had overseen the experiments and was unaware that he was being pursued. "What do you want Weissman? I am a busy man." The captain asked indignantly, still concerned about the escape of his prey.

The scientist had his back to the captain and waved his hand in the air, opening a simple green holographic panel before keying in a code that resulted in sealing the room off and the disappearance of the door. "It's over for you and this quaint exercise. While it was entertaining, I've grown bored of playing with such simpletons and their primitive technology" The concrete textures of the room eventually faded away and the equipment began to shift and change. Once the facade had completely removed, what remained was a room with a polished stone floor that reflected an unfamiliar starscape of a distant galaxy, populated with several humanoid shaped bodies on operating tables. "Moments ago you were so certain of your superiority, but now you look as pathetic as the rest of the inhabitants of your world." The figure of an old man was soon replaced with that of a young, tall and slender body and a narrow pale green face with pointed ears.

"Who? What the hell are you?" The G.U.N. officer that authorised the black ops project couldn't think straight, trying to understand the situation that he was in.

Weissman raised a hand in front of Yezhov and smirked wickedly at the human "The Maestro that is about to give you what you want and sow the seeds of your destruction." With those final words, the captain felt his eyes get heavy as he fell into a state of unconsciousness, collapsing onto the cold and hard ground.

Outside of the mountain fortress of the G.U.N. forces, Fenix watched on as the area around the facility became a hive of activity and watched as the soldiers continued their search. 'Looks like they can continue without me.' The echidna frowned beneath his suit's helmet and pressed his fingers against a button on the side of the headpiece. "Shade how are things on your end?" He asked jumping off of a branch he had chosen to observe the forces of the Guardian Units of the Nation from and began making his way back to the airport.

"Commander Tower has got the entire base on lockdown and we're searching high and low for the captain and his men, the commander also believes that Doctor Weissman was somehow involved too as he has also disappeared including his lab." She replied into her communicator, stepping out of the way of an M.P. so that she didn't get bumped into as the soldiers hurried back and forth, increasing their search grid to find the fugitives.

"If I were caught involved in a black ops research project, I'd take everything I could with me" The exiled Nocturnus stated, unsurprised that the G.U.N. scientist had taken everything with him. The female echidna shook her head.

"No, that's not what I meant. He took everything including the lab itself. There's nothing left but a blank wall. It's like it never existed" She said in a grim tone, staring at where the laboratory should have been and wondering just what on Mobius was going on.

"What?" Now that did surprise the usually calm and collected former Procurator and stopped him in his tracks. "That's impossible." He said in disbelief.

Fenix could hear her move around as she examined the area in front of her. "Apparently, it is possible. I'm starting to think that it might have been some sort of special warp ring." She replied.

The male exile nodded in affirmation and then let out a sigh out of defeat due to the dead end that had literally appeared in the investigation. "If that is the case then the search is pointless, they could be anywhere by now." He shook his.

"What'll you do now?" Shade asked, hoping that Fenix wouldn't just up and leave without telling her.

"Nothing for me to do except forward the evidence to Station Square police and let them deal with my Vice President." The other echidna replied simply to her question.

She paused for a moment as the realisation that this may very well be the last time that she saw her long time crush. "I see…you could…" She struggled with her words before being interrupted by the sound of alarms and an announcement being broadcasted throughout the military installation. "Ah...Damn it! I'll talk to you later, okay Fenix?" Shade hoped that the male echidna wouldn't leave the city before she had the chance to say goodbye properly.

Only seconds had passed, when his attention had been drawn by the wail of sirens in the distance and the sound of helicopters racing to the heart of the city. 'Something has the C.C.P.D. riled up. It's not my concern anymore.' He said dismissively and removed the helmet of his armour, tucking it under his arm to hide the sigil on the forehead.

Explosions rocked the city and the ground shook as the pavement was torn apart by powerful high-energy laser cannons that were carried by hulking humanoid automatons. "This is Allison Wright reporting for Mobius News from the heart of Central City. Just moments ago, twenty-two humanoid machines appeared from nowhere and has started to target Mobian and Overlander citizens. It is unclear whether these are some sort creations of Eggman however from what we can assume from survivors from the initial attack, the leader of this group has stated that they are called Neo Humans. Police are doing their best to secure the area and evacuate everyone to safety but conventional weapons appear to have little to no effect. If you encounter one do not attack, just-" The feed cut out when a building started to crumble nearby, after a golden beam of energy cleaved through the concrete, steel and mortar.

As the citizens of the Federation began to run in fear and terror of the mechanoids that were tearing up the heart of Central City in their genocidal rampage, "Anyone that supports or tries to protect the mutant threat will be eradicated from the face of the planet." One of the machines announced to a human trying to help some Mobians flee from the hulking bipedal automatons of death.

The machine was then knocked back and lost its balance slightly when an energy bolt struck the side of its faceplate. "Get to safety now, don't hang around here." A soldier ran up to the cyborg's intended targets and helped them onto their feet and ushered them to the safety behind the line of soldiers, robots and armour that was being fielded by G.U.N. and was bearing down on the hostile threat that was inside Central City.

"Abomination and rebellious element detected. Eliminating threat!" The Neo Human stated coldly, regaining its balance and turned to face the military might of the Federation and the escaping prey, however, it received a rocket propelled grenade to the chest and seemed to just shrug it off.

The commander of the battalion pulled himself up to the access hatch of the M1A3 Abrams Main Battle Tank and briefly got a look at the new and unknown threat he was about to face off with. "Rifle squad get those civilians out of here and escort them to the field hospital! Armoured division move up! It's time to show them who they're dealing with!" The soldier ordered brazenly and took his seat inside the armoured vehicle as G.U.N.'s heavy hitters got into position.

"Re-prioritising targets, commencing destruction of local G.U.N. forces." The armoured cybernetic organism said monotonously, as it brought its heavy laser cannon to bear down on the force in front of it and began charging its weapon.

Elsewhere, the female Nocturnus echidna was making her way deeper into the heart of the city to find the leader of the attack and relay their position to a sniper team that was currently on standby, however, she was meeting resistance as she made her way further into the concrete jungle. "Shade to Command, I've finished talking to the C.C.P.D. and S.W.A.T. Both confirm that bullets and energy weapons are proving ineffective against these…Neo Humans or whatever they want to be called." She reported back to G.U.N. on what she was able to ascertain from those that had initially responded to the sudden attack on the city, wiping her brow as one of the automatons collapse onto the ground. "Even I'm having a tough time knocking them down." She muttered to herself.

"Roger that Agent Shade, continue your search for their leader and go to radio silence until you've located the target. Command out!" A voice replied and cut the line.

After deciding to turn her radio off to conserve its energy, she decided to admire her handy work, however, she was taken aback when the cyborg began to move once again. "What? I just took them out…" She said in disbelief as the damage she had inflicted began to disappear and the metal seemed to repair itself, however, it was stopped midway in its process when two familiar faces landed and caved its head in. "Rouge! Amy!" She cried, pleasantly surprised to see that they were back in action.

"Long time no see hon. How's things with Mister Mopey?" The Mobian bat asked as she greeted the female echidna.

Shade's lavender eyes widened and didn't know whether to be embarrassed or confused by the question when she noticed the smug and knowing look from the spy-turned-club owner, she turned her head and scratched the tip of her nose nervously "Ahh…"

The pink hedgehog looked back at the other cybernetic organisms and readied her hammer to defend herself. "Just what's going on here Shade? Do you know what they are?" Amy asked, not taking her eyes off the hulking, behemoths.

The female echidna glared at the mess they were in and hated that the other two Mobian women were now involved in this mess "They call themselves Neo Humans apparently or that's what the survivors say." She stated to the bat and hedgehog, she couldn't believe the arrogance of the things in front of her. "As for their objectives, judging by their actions, they're primarily targeting Overlanders, Mobians and any humans that try to help them. I was on my way to identify their leader so G.U.N. could send in a sniper team." Shade updated the others.

"They're pulling themselves together!" Amy Rose's eyes widened as she watched first hand as the machine bodies pulling themselves together, right in front of her.

Rouge took a defensive stance and prepared herself for a fight. "You might as well go on ahead sweetie, we'll handle things here." She glanced to the G.U.N. agent.

"Be careful." Shade said to the other two young women out of concern for their well-being, hoping that they won't try to do something stupid that would wind up risking their lives even further.

The bat just smirked. "That should be our line." She said confidently as the echidna dashed off to hunt her quarry.

The pinkette brought her hammer up and prepared herself for a fight "Right! Let's do this! HIYAAH!" As the last 'Neo Human' pieced itself together.

As Shade made her way deeper into the heart of the city, the destruction that had been made by the Neo Human's purge was far more severe, as cars were left warped, twisted and burnt out, and buildings were hollowed out because of the powerful weapons that this enemy carried with them. _'I've never seen so much devastation, not even as a Procurator for Ix…focus Shade, focus.'_ She thought as she hurried along the street, checking her corners to avoid being ambushed from behind.

Not too far from her, one of the hulking machines marched towards the sound of a panicked child trying to hide from the new menace. _"Non-human detected"_ the humanoid figure picked up the Mobian by the scruff of the neck. _"Purging mutant DNA."_ He readied his weapon.

The child began to squirm as the cannon began to hum as it charged "No! Please…let me go….mummy…daddy…please!" the young pup cried out as light emanated from the barrel, ready to vaporise the intended target.

"Oh! No!" Shade saw what was going on and immediately launched herself into the air and kicked the weapon, which released the stored energy into a nearby bar, which immediately burst into an inferno due to the alcohol that it kept inside, with the weapon dealt with she swiftly twisted her body before she touched the ground and severed the hand from the Neo Human and caught the young canine "Quick! Get out of here!" She said, prying the mechanical hand open and giving the mobian child a light push to hurry him along.

Once his target was no longer in his sight and he had the chance to process what had happened and who his assailant was, the cyborg decided to speak once again _"Agent Shade…what a pleasure to see you."_ The former captain from G.U.N. spoke with clear arrogance in his synthesised voice

"Captain Yezhov? It can't be…Where are you?" She asked, her eyes darted around the street, trying to locate the man that all of the Guardian Units of the Nation were now hunting for.

If he still had lips still the former captain would be smiling at the moment _"Right in front of you, my dear. Only with a new body."_ He touched the breastplate of his new body, once the hand that the female echidna had severed had reattached itself to the arm.

"What?" She said in disbelief, unable to believe that the man that had once sworn to protect the Federation was now destroying it and killing the people that live in it, however, what was more shocking was that he was now more machine than human now.

 _"With this new body of mine and an army by my side, I'll be able to eliminate all of the threats to humanity and I will start by cleansing Central City of you filthy mutants."_ He stated with confidence that dripped with venom in it, a clear hatred for anything not human and considered to be a plague to be eradicated from existence.

At this time Amy Rose and Rouge the Bat were now having trouble standing, as fatigue and exhaustion started to take hold of them and the pain from their injuries screamed out, wanting to be tended to. "We keep knocking them down but they just get back up again, they're nothing like Eggman's robots." She breathed heavily, struggling to hold her hammer up, however, decided to keep it on the ground rather than waste what energy she had to pick it up.

The white furred bat landed next to the pink hedgehog, wiping her chin as she felt that a bruise was going to form there and wondered if she had the makeup to cover it up later. "I know…so who made them and where'd they come from?" She asked the question that everyone in Central City was now asking, however, she paused when she caught a glimpse of what was inside the chest of the robotic enemies that they were fighting. "Amy, are you seeing what I am seeing?" The club owner said, unable to take her eyes off of what she was seeing.

"Now they're going to hesitate." A lone, narrow-faced figure said to himself with a bored sighed, from his vantage point above and out of sight of the participants of the skirmish below "However…" He then began planning on a way to liven things up and also to get his new pet project involved.

Amy recoiled in horror as she noticed what Rouge was talking about. "GYAH! Is…is that a brain?" She felt being sick as she saw the grey mass floating in a reinforced jar inside the robotic body. Even though Eggman had used animals to help power some of his Badniks in the past, roboticised and even turned some of his Egg Army into cyborgs, this was a whole new level of disturbing. "Who would do such a thing?" She held her stomach as she tried to get used to the sight but found it hard to adjust to it.

"I would." A voice suddenly appeared behind the young women and they both whipped around to see the tall, narrow-faced figure behind them and he stretched out a hand to each of them and poke their foreheads of the Mobians "Now sleep." He said in a low tone and with that phrase, both Amy and Rouge fell to the ground, unconscious. "Take them to the captain, let him deal with these ants." The Maestro ordered his creations to follow his request and to begin setting the stage for something that would hopefully entertain him, even if for a moment.

On the very outskirts of the city, the highway was at a standstill, as everyone was trying to find some avenue in which to escape the destruction that was going on and the extermination every mobian, overlander and any human that decided to help the former. Drumming his fingers on his knee, while gazing off into the distance out the side window of his taxi, Fenix waited for the traffic to move so he could return back to Station Square and get rid of the corruption on his board of directors, in addition to electing his new vice president. "Sorry pal. It's lookin' like we're gonna be stuck here for some time, traffic ain't movin' an inch" The driver apologised for the delay. "Hey! Ain't ya that rich guy in charge of that medical company?" He asked, wondering why such a person would bother in riding a taxi "We don't see many people that are loaded ridin' in cabs, too busy with their fancy limos. Did ya come from some costume party or somethin'?" He added to his previous question, noting the attire that his customer was currently wearing, in the past the cab driver had seen all sorts of strange people ride with him but this was the first time he had seen someone to walk around in black armour in the day time.

"I was and I'm not particularly fond of exuberance." The Echidna gave the driver a momentary glance and then continued to stare out of the window, wondering when the traffic at the same time but at the same time he was distracted by recent events. How was Captain Yezhov able to escape from an underground bunker so quickly and now the city was cornered off because of some attack by these Neo Human robots, nothing was adding up and it irritated him.

"Right, right… somethin' has 'em hot 'n' bothered under the collar" The cabbie said under his breath, turning back to look at the road in front of him.

As the car inched along the congested highway the Echidna noticed a military checkpoint and he raised an eyebrow as he examined the expressions on their faces. 'Judging by their expressions, it looks like G.U.N. is facing something that they can't handle alone.' He reasoned "If you'll excuse me, I am going to make a call." Fenix tapped his wrist and a holographic panel appeared above the back of his gloved hand. "Chiron give me an update on the situation in Central."

The former Procurator of the Nocturnus clan placed two fingers to the side of his head, near his ear. "Sir, it would appear that G.U.N. forces are fighting humanoid machines that are calling themselves Neo Humans and they appear to be targeting Overlanders, Mobians and any Humans that help them." Fenix nodded to this bit of information and processed it. _"The enemy is using some sort of electronic counter-measures that are disabling cameras in the area so they sent a member from Team Dark to locate the leader and report back on their location, however…"_ The A.I.'s voice trailed off.

"However?" The echidna repeated, concerned and prepared himself mentally for the worse.

 _"She has yet to report in"_ Chiron finished his report and waited for his master's reply to the news.

Fenix was quiet for some time, as he got everything ready. "…All right…" He said with finality, opening the door to the taxi and dropping four fifty dollar notes onto the lap of the driver. "Keep the change." The echidna placed his head in his helmet and took off into the sky.

The taxi driver's eyes widened as he wondered what was going on. "WAIT!" He then looked at how much he had been given by his passenger "Whoa! Never mind then…" He ran a hand through his balding head, unable to believe the tip he had been given.

Back with Shade, she was trying to grasp why someone would give up their own body for a cold and unfeeling one. "How? How were you able to get this new body? It's far beyond any technology currently available and you were gone for only a few hours." She demanded to know who his benefactor was and avoided one of the captain's attacks.

 _"I don't know and I don't care. It's time to end this game!"_ Yezhov admitted, but no matter what the case was, he didn't even care because of the amount of power he had been given to fulfil his mission to safeguard the world from all threat to humanity. The 'Neo Human' fired his powerful energy cannon at the female echidna, whom just back flipped until the beam stopped to allow the weapon to cool down.

With his primary weapon cooling down, Shade ran up the wall of a building and then launched herself at the cybernetic body of captain Yezhov and struck his 'chest' with her foot, however, she grabbed her by the leg and struck her against the ground "GUH!" Shade grunted as the energy to continue fighting was knocked out of her.

 _"I have persons of interest in custody."_ One of Yezhov's former subordinate's turned mindless drone approached their 'master' and tossed Rouge and Amy on the ground, with their arms and legs in bindings made of energy.

The leader of the cyborgs looked at the bodies that were thrown in front of him and then back at his subordinate _"YOUR ORDERS ARE TO ELIMINATE EVERY PIECE OF MUTATED TRASH! NOT CAPTURE THEM!"_

"I am so sorry Shade…" Amy said weakly, stirring from her unconscious state.

"We were taken by surprise," Rouge added, waking moments after the pink hedgehog.

Hearing the prisoners regaining consciousness, the leader of the attack on the capital of the Federation walked over to them, the hydraulics in his legs that hissed with every heavy step he took. _"Well…will you look at this, former Agent Rouge and the Freedom Fighter Amy Rose." He examined each of the mobians that he had in his possession closely and came up with an idea to get his message across. "I suppose killing you three would help to make a good statement. Get the camera gear from that van"_ Yezhov gestured to a nearby vehicle that had been sent by the local television station to report on the situation but had been abandoned once the fighting began to spread out.

After he ordered his subordinate to claim the camera, Yezhov tore the ceiling off of a trailer for a truck and hung the female mobians up on the protruding supports."You'll never get away with this! Sonic will…" The pink hedgehog began.

The cyborg's synthesised voice made what sounded like a chuckle _"That blue freak is on the other side of the world fighting the Iron Dominion playing hero, by the time he gets the broadcast, it'll be too late and even Shadow won't be able to get here in time."_ Yezhov let the young women know that they weren't going to be saved by the world's "guardians" anytime soon and should give up hope.

After visiting G.U.N.'s supply dump and appropriating some of their devices, Fenix was gliding through the forest of skyscrapers and made his way to the heart of enemy territory and try to do what he could about the current situation. _"Sir, receiving a transmission from inside the hot zone."_ Chiron notified his master about the new broadcast signal.

"Play it, we'll trace it back to the source." The echidna said in a calm and collected tone, but he was in fact very concerned if he was going to make it in time to protect Shade from these mechanical nightmares.

Throughout the city that was now in chaos, televisions crackled and changed the images of a newscaster to that of the leader of the Neo Humans, no one at that moment could stop the broadcast and even if they could, they didn't dare try. _"Greetings Central City, I am Nikolai Yezhov and I am here to issue a warning, this is the day that humanity reclaims the Earth from the threat of the mutants, accidents born from a mistake that humans made more than six millennia ago."_ The former captain declared to the citizens that lived in the city and were now fleeing for their very lives. _"Humanity has learned from its mistakes of recklessly plundering the land of its resources and have created sustainable industries. Overlanders have stripped areas clean of resources and have not even replanted the vegetation they have destroyed, built large cities with unstable infrastructure, polluted the atmosphere and are responsible for giving birth to one of the most dangerous minds to date, Doctor Ivo "Eggman" Robotnik."_ He ranted to those listening, if he still had a body, his speech would have been filled with passion and conviction, however, now the synthesised voice, caused all of those emotions to be lost in translation. _"However let us not forget Robotnik's accomplice, the one that allowed him to get away because of his own ego, because he loves the attention, the glory and exaltation."_ Yezhov began.

Amy's eyes widened when she realised to whom he was referring to and didn't take too kindly to the accusations. "DON'T YOU DARE!" The pink hedgehog cried out, no one was going to talk badly about Sonic in front of her.

The towering cyborg ignored the outburst from Sonic's admirer and continued on with his tirade. _"Our world is still suffering because of "The Hero of Mobius" and other super powered Mobians, which have claimed the world as their own when it belonged to humans before them. Today, Neo Humans shall reclaim this planet and restore it to what it once was for the sake of humanity. Let these sacrifices help mark the beginning of a new age."_ He picked up a nearby laser cannon and powered it up, aiming it at the female mobians that hung helplessly in their bindings, if he were still human, he'd be grinning at this small victory which would help him kick his revolution into overdrive. He released the trigger and the red beam raced towards its target and engulfed the three Mobians, however, his moment of triumph was ruined when he saw the sacrifices still living. _"What?"_ As sparks from the thunder shields that had protected the young women flickered out of existence, a dark figure landed in front of the captain and spun around and cut Amy, Rouge and Shade free with his energy blade.

"Fe-!" Shade began, however, she stopped herself as she noticed that the male echidna was focused on the enemy in front of him and staring the former captain down.

Rouge floated down and landed next to the female echidna and readied herself for another brawl. "Time for round two." The bat said with bravado, confident in her own abilities and that the new addition would help them beat the bad guys.

"Let's smash this guy for saying bad things about my Sonic!" The pink hedgehog stated, brandishing her Piko Piko Hammer, ready for combat.

Fenix knew that they were eager to go another round, however, he also knew that they were in no condition for a prolonged battle and would only get in the way and serve as a point of concern, simply telling the young women to leave wouldn't work, so he needed to come up with something that would occupy their time and get them to safety. "There are people still in the buildings, get them to safety while I handle things here." The echidna said calmly, not taking his eyes off of the enemy in front of him.

Shade stepped forward to interject and offer her aid in defeating the cybernetic monstrosity. "I'll help-" She said timidly, knowing full well that it wasn't the best idea to get in the way when Fenix got serious.

"Go! Now!" Fenix insisted firmly, not even raising his voice, which unnerved the girls slightly and that was the indicated they needed to know that they needed to leave before things got way out of hand.

Rouge placed a hand on the black armoured echidna and got close to him. "Just so you know, they have a brain in their chest." She stated, passing by and did a little step before flying off to find someone to help evacuate the area. Amy gave the former Nocturnus a quick nod and ran after the bat.

"They replaced that much?" Shade muttered to herself, considering the former spy's words carefully, before realising that Fenix was still waiting for her to get out of the way and to safety "Ah! Right!" She said hurriedly and dashed off to follow the others.

 _"NOT SO FAST!"_ Yezhov called out, now with a perfect line of sight to eradicate the female mobians in one shot of his powerful energy weapon. The blast, however, never came as the cannon was knocked off target by a downward kick from Fenix and bore a hole into the ground. _"So it's like that is it?"_ The former G.U.N. officer swung the powerful cannon at the echidna but missed due to his rigid movements, as the Neo-human fought with the ex-Nocturnus clan member, he glanced to his subordinate that was just standing around doing nothing. _"GET THEM!"_ He called out, ordering his minion to eliminate the fleeing mobians. Knowing that he only moments to do something, Fenix, bounded off of Yezhov and leaped towards the other metal soldier, gliding midway to lure the former captain to charge his cannon and sure enough, the cyborg had fallen for it and prepared to fire, waiting for the right moment, the Echidna dropped to the ground and the blast from the cannon flew past him, striking Yezhov's subordinate and left a large enough hole to throw an explosive dagger, into the chest cavity and destroy one of the so-called 'Neo-Humans' and this one victory irritated the former G.U.N. soldier. _"You are starting to become a real nuisance."_ He growled with his synthesised voice.

'Stay safe Fenix.' The female echidna looked back with worry, hoping that the male would survive his battle with the monster.

Back with the main G.U.N. forces, the army of Neo-Humans halted in their tracks and stood still for a moment, curious as to what was going on, the commander raised his arm and ordered his forces to stop firing. "Sir! The enemy has stopped moving and they're turning back!" One of the riflemen pointed out the obvious.

"Why? For what possible reason would they just suddenly halt their advance?" The officer brought a hand underneath his chin as he began to ponder as to the change, he and his men were being pushed back with every step, so it made no sense to just retreat.

"I think it might have to do with that sir." The rifleman pointed up to a large screen hanging off of one of the skyscrapers, showing Fenix in his black Noctunus armour, fighting the former captain.

The commander was surprised that someone was actually facing off against the leader of the attack on their own and managing to hold their own, not to mention they looked to be a Nocturnus soldier, he had many questions but they'd have to wait. "Harass the enemy as they retreat, we'll at least try to destroy one of them." The officer ordered, deciding to use the distraction to his advantage and to start pushing back.

"SIR!" The rifleman saluted and began relaying the message throughout the gathered forces. Soon, the ground shook with the heavy steps of G.U.N. robots and soldiers alike and the grinding of treads from the tanks.

Fenix dodged another blast that had been aimed at him, adding another hole to the asphalt, which now was looking more like Swiss cheese, than an actual street. _"Bastard! Go down already!"_ Yezhov cursed, the echidna giving him more trouble than he was worth.

 _'Three point five seconds to charge'_ the former Nocturnus Procurator, had estimated as he continued to make himself a hard target to hit. Most of the heroes just rushed in without thinking, however, if he was going to take out this menace, he needed to draw the battle out and find an opening.

Letting his irritation, cool down for a moment, the leader of this coup de'tat had caught onto what his opponent was trying to do and decided to create and made a feint to draw him in. Seeing his chance, the echidna moved in for the kill, with his blades drawn, however when he brought his weapons down onto the cyborg, he was reflected back. _"Not this time!"_ Nikolai Yezhov said confidently.

After regaining his footing, Fenix frowned as he processed what had just happened. _'Some sort of adaptive shielding.'_ He surmised, noting the bubble that had briefly surrounded the former captain and took up a defensive stance, thinking of ways that he could somehow get through the energy field.

Shade exited a terraced house and met up with the others. "That's the last house for this area." She said, closing the door behind her.

"Good let's get out of here." The former G.U.N. Agent, wanted to get the survivors to safety as soon as possible, knowing full well that the Neo-Humans will be coming back anytime soon and it would be incredibly hard to hide with a group.

Amy heard the heavy footfalls of the cyborg army approaching and then a glint of light being reflected from their polished surfaces. "Ah…girls! We've got company." she was worried about the safety everyone.

Shade gritted her teeth and prepared for a fight, along with Rouge and Amy, who stood in front of the survivors. "Damn it! Not now…" she growled.

"They're ignoring us!" Rouge was surprised that the enemy was just passing them by without so much as a glance, this unusual act had got the young women wondering about the situation with the battle they had just left.

The female echidna shook her head and regained her focus on the current situation and their duty. "Now's our chance!" They then decided to get the survivors to the evacuation zone and thus to safety.

As they made their way back up the street, the crowd eventually came across the G.U.N. forces that were pursuing the Neo-Humans that were heading back to aid their leader. "A group of survivors, get them off of the street!" The commander, riding in one of the tanks ordered for some of the soldiers on foot to begin hurrying them along, just in case the enemy decided to double back "Agent Shade, do you know what is going on up ahead?" He asked, wanting to know more before going any further, hoping to prepare himself and his troops for any surprises.

"No, not since I started evacuating civilians sir" The female echidna admitted, since leaving Fenix to fight with the former captain, her entire focus had been on evacuating any civilians that had decided to try and wait out the attack or were too afraid to move.

He nodded, taking the new information in and accepting the risks of going in blind, meaning that he'd have to plan as the situation demands it. "I see, then help escort the civilians back to the relief station." He ordered and then gestured for his troops to carry on the pursuit.

The female echidna, however, just stood still and looked towards the direction that they had come from, thinking about how outnumbered that Fenix was going to be and felt that she had to do something. "Shade c'mon let's get these people to safety, let G.U.N. deal with it." Amy was torn between helping the survivors get to safety and the empathy that she had for her friend, understanding full well the pain of worrying about the person that they cared about the most.

"I'm going back. She said decisively and ran back to the fight between Fenix and Captain Yezhov that was raging on in the heart of the city under siege.

Amy and Rouge hesitated in chasing after her, concerned for the welfare of the people behind them and the echidna that had just ran back into battle. "We can make our own way back." One of the survivors, a female, feline mobian stepped forward and spoke for the group.

"Are you sure?" Amy asked out of concern for the survivors.

The feline nodded, confident that they'll be able to safely get to the evacuation zone. "Yes, do what you have to do." The girls again were hesitant but they were given intense stares, letting them know that the group was prepared to meet any challenge that came before them. Once they were sure that the people were going to be safe from harm, the young women then ran after their friend.

Glass shattered as the black armoured echidna flew through a window on the second floor of a cafe and into a shelf of dumb bells that belonged to the gym above the coffee shop. _"You fought well, but it looks like you're running out of steam."_ Yezhov rocketed up to the second floor and marched through the debris, with a sinister tone in his voice.

Rouge and Amy soon caught up with Shade, who had tripped over her own feet while running. "Need a lift? I'm not one for running away from fights either." Rouge the Bat offered, landing next to the echidna and stretched out her hand to help Shade to her feet.

"Us girls need to stick together. We are a team, after all." Amy quipped, walking up to the other two with her hammer gripped tightly.

Shade visibly smiled, happy that they were willing to stick by her, even on this fool's errand. "Right" The echidna said with a nod and saw Amy return the smile with one of her own. With that out of the way, the young women began racing to the heart of the conflict and could hear the sounds of combat raging on, every so often, coming across the burnt out remains of the 'Neo-Humans' but they were so few and far between, that their remaining numbers would still prove to be difficult if they should decide to start pushing again. "Up ahead!" The new member of Team Dark called out, seeing a line of tanks and robots from G.U.N. in front of them, all lined up and still as can be, as if they were watching something.

Fenix was tossed from the second floor on to the ground, with blood slowly draining from his body as he lay helpless. _"This is it for you"_ Yezhov dropped to the street and marched over to the struggling echidna and raised his weapon, a slight lag in the charge due to overuse, making sure to be as close as possible to confirm the kill. If he still had a human body, the former captain by now would be licking his lips, as he relished the thought of finally being rid of this nuisance that had been eluding his every shot.

There was a bright blast of white light as asphalt and gravel was thrown everywhere. "NOOO!" Shade cried out, the one thing that she had been fearful of had happened, the one that she had cared for, for so long had been killed right in front of her and she could do nothing about it. Just on the verge of tears the dust began to dissipate and the male echidna was standing, clutching his side and Shade could swear they heard everyone cheer to themselves.

 _"This time for certain."_ He said triumphantly but soon regretted his words, as he saw his foe standing before him, ready to continue fighting _"WHAT?"_ He bellowed in denial, unable to understand why this one particular obstacle refused to go down, noticing the sheen in the black armour had faded and guessed that was what probably saved him, regardless, Yezhov had an almost unstoppable force at his disposal now and glanced in their direction. The cyborgs all raised their weapons of the mobian echidna and charged their weapons, seeing movements out of the corner of his eye, Fenix ran towards Yezhov, leaping in the air and landing behind the commander of the attacking army and the blasts from the enemy's weapons connected with Nikolai Yezhov and melted the front of his body, exposing brain canister. Fenix picked up the only remaining human part of the former G.U.N. captain and held it up, stopping the 'Neo-Humans' from firing their powerful weapons. " _You're just another one of those do-gooder heroes that don't have what it takes to finish the job."_ The brain pointed out that they were essentially at a stalemate. _"Kill me and my men die, don't and-"_ Fenix swiftly energised his swords and cut the brain in half and with that the Nikolai Yezhov's army fell deathly silent and their weapons fell to the ground with a dull clunk.

"Better to die free, than a slave to a mad-man." Fenix gave the pool of grey matter and suspension fluid a cold stare and began walking off, with a limp, only halting to look to the roof of a distant building, feeling the gaze of another potential threat upon him.

Shade ran up to Fenix and began fussing over him. "Are you all right?" She asked, looking him up and down and watched as he injected himself with a painkiller.

"You were able to survive that without a shield? How?" Rouge wondering, remember that he had used lightning shields to protect them earlier and given their size, he couldn't have any more on hand.

Amy, however, was in shock by what she had just witnessed "I can't believe you just killed the bad guy." Shadow had done it himself, but to see another do it without any hesitation at all, she hadn't fully prepared herself for it.

Fenix just looked at Shade before speaking. "It's not over. You noticed it too, didn't you?" He said knowingly, she was as much of a battle-hardened veteran as he was and should have had the same feeling of being watched as he did.

"Yeah" She nodded slowly, confirming the male echidna's beliefs.

It was then, they all heard the sound of clapping and looked up to see the source of the noise. "Congratulations." The pale, slender figure descended and landed in front of the group of mobians, a small and eerie smile on his lips. "It looks like you are far more interesting than the rest of these 'hero' types." He said condescendingly to Rouge and Amy, stopping their strikes with ease, using the tips of his fingers.

"What are you?" The male echidna asked, telling the jewel thief and pinkette to stand down by placing a hand on each of their shoulders.

The new arrival only grinned more, this new interest was highly perceptive indeed. "Now that is the right question, everyone just asks me who am I and to answer your query." He leaned in "You and I share something in common but I'm much higher on the food chain." The being that had been disguised as a G.U.N. scientist replied to the question in a low voice. "I am also responsible for the modifications to those fools, however, it was the captain's idea to burn the convention centre." The alien stated clearly enough for everyone to hear, earning shocked looks from much of the soldiers gathered around the group.

"FREEZE!" The commander of the advancing forces shouted out and the men under his command raised their weapons and aimed at the creature that had been Doctor Weissman not too long ago.

The Maestro rolled his eyes at the predictable response. "Insects." He raised his finger and a holographic panel appeared and the alien pushed a few of the cyan coloured symbols before him.

"GET BACK!" The echidna didn't know exactly what was going to happen, but he felt it was better than doing nothing and realised that the weapons from G.U.N.'s armoury had been sabotaged when they began to glow red hot, in the hands of the soldiers.

Some of the G.U.N personnel realised what was happening and immediately discarded their equipment, unfortunately, for some of the others, they weren't so lucky and got caught in the resulting explosions. "Wha-? Guh!" Cries came out from the soldiers as some disappeared in balls of flame and smoke, before falling to the ground injured in various conditions.

The entity looked down on the injured humans and those that were still standing; were now ill equipped to face this seemingly powerful being from another world. "Don't forget I hid amongst you for quite some time and had ample time to prepare." He then swept the young women aside to get a rise out of Fenix, and the echidna was more than willing to oblige, bringing out his energy sword and went for the Maestro's throat. "Nicely done but that won't be enough." The alien said, blocking the red column of energy with own blue energy sword with a hilt of pearl white.

"YOU BASTARD!" Amy shouted at the strange being with pale green skin and pointed ears.

"TCH! Pests!" He spat indignantly and was about to sweep the young female mobians away with a psychic attack, but was interrupted by a sudden headbutt to the forehead, the reaction was smirk to the use of unorthodox methods and a rise in aggression. "That's what I want, let me see that faint power hidden inside of you." The alien then teleported them away from the to Central City's port, where the two continued their duel to the death.

"Are you okay?" The pink hedgehog asked, getting to her feet.

Rouge nodded and shook her head. "Yeah." She answered, regaining her senses.

Shade frowned, wondering about the true nature of who they just faced and exactly they had just come from. "What was that about? Just who or what is he?" She said in frustration, looking around trying to find Fenix, unfortunately for the female echinda, she wasn't able to find the one that she was searching for and became even more worried.

North of the original location of the battle, explosions rang out throughout the port, destroying cranes and cargo containers alike, amongst this chaos was The Maestro and Fenix. "Focus that anger and hatred, focus it into a blade and strike me down. Show me that latent power of yours, halfling." The alien said, urging the former Nocturnus clan member to go all out, skidding along the concrete wharf and bringing his energy sword below his face, instantly healing the wounds that he had just received from Fenix, before charging into the duel. The echidna parried the attack with ease, however, the entity had pushed back by using a psionic attack and then thrusted his weapon at Fenix from below, the echidna let go of his swords and deflected with the blades of his gauntlets, before throwing out two smoke pellets and an electrically charged knife, that resulted in another explosion to act as a distraction and give him some distance. At the moment, the battle was still limited to the physical plane, however, it was obvious that it was slowly being pushed to another dimension, as The Maestro could sense the limitations of the former Nocturnus begin to break.

The echidna snapped back to reality, realising that he wasn't in control of the battle and that the enemy was goading him into attacking, pushing away from his opponent, Fenix took the time to survey the destruction that the fight had been caused and deactivated his blades in defiance. "I will not bow to your whims or be your pawn." He stated calmly, putting the hilts back into their recharging racks on his belt.

A sigh of disappointment escaped the lips of the alien and he too deactivated his blade. "It's a shame, I was really getting into it." He said, tossing the hilt up into the air, which vanished in a blink of an eye into a pocket universe. "Until next time Fenix." With those words and a sinister grin, the Maestro had once again teleported away from the area.

By the time that G.U.N. had responded to the alarms at Central City's docks, Fenix had already started to walk away from the scene and was making his way to the airport, until he was stopped by a G.U.N. transport that had been halted by Shade, who then jumped out of the truck and ran up to Fenix. "Are you okay?" She asked as the sun began to rise over the horizon.

Rouge floated over and landed next to them. "So where'd mister freakshow go to?" She folded her arms and looked around, hoping that the strange being was far away and had no intention of returning.

"So, did you beat him?" Amy assumed, after not seeing the alien that had appeared after the battle, jumping from the truck and walked over.

The echidna didn't pay attention to the girls and was more focused on the soldiers that were now filing out of the the military transport and onto the street to surround him. "He opened a portal and left" Fenix stated coolly.

"Stand down men!" Abraham Tower ordered, exiting the passenger's side of the transport and up to the armoured echidna. "You have my thanks for supporting our forces when we needed it, we'll be certain to clear up the false accusations" While he did still harbour resentment about having the security of his home being violated, he was more than grateful for being alerted to the black operations program and for the protection of the city and its people.

The red eyes of Fenix's armour fixed onto the commander's outstretched hand, however, it was disregarded. "I did it because I wanted to," The echidna walked passed and continued on his way. "After an event such as this, if you were to clear my name, people will lose faith in G.U.N. and the police forces, people lose hope, they'll become angry and with the black market doing more trade than ever, it'll lead to riots. I harmed those people and I am responsible for the deaths of those men, I was the catalyst for it all." He stated, stopping briefly and looking back at the crowd.

"We'll be forced to chase you, hunt you down like a criminal," Abraham replied to the armoured echidna, making sure that their apparent saviour knew the risks of taking the blame for everything that happened.

"No, you will. Keep the city united and protect the people, even if it means that you have to lie." Fenix continued to walk and was now next to the transport, noticing slight distortions in the air and figured that they were G.U.N. Gold Beetle's deployed to maintain surveillance on him, should he decide to flee.

"But that's not fair!" It was Amy that protested, as Rouge and Shade had come to understand the request, but it didn't mean that they liked it one bit. With that, he jumped onto the transport and activated his cloak, before using Chiron to override the programming of the Gold Beetle.

The ageing commander walked forward, placing a hand on the downtrodden Shade. "A true hero doesn't seek the approval of the masses or the glory the title brings, even if only one person believes in them and that is more than enough." He tried to reassure her, letting the female echidna know that there were all kinds of heroes and that even though G.U.N. was going to be after Fenix, he was still considered to be a champion of the people.

Rouge folder her arms across her chest and quirked an eyebrow at the Abraham Tower's words. "Wow! Commander, those are some truly inspiring words right there. You aren't going soft in your old age are you?" She jested, it wasn't every day that something heartening.

The commander wasn't too impressed by her quip. "Watch your tongue agent Rouge."

"That's former agent Rouge to you Mister Abraham Tower." She added, reminding her former superior officer that she was now a civilian and not an agent, Amy and Shade couldn't help but giggle at the silly conversation.

The commander just rolled his eyes and decided to drop the subject and help with returning the city to a relative state of normality. "All right men, I want casualty reports and damage assessments on my desk at the mobile command centre as soon as possible, we got a city to clean." He began ordering his troops to assist with the clean up.

As the troops begin clamouring into the transport, one of the soldiers in charge of monitoring of the robots that had accompanied them, ran up to the commander. "Um...sir...I believe the black creature hijacked one of Gold Beetle's" He reported, once Chiron had control, the A.I. made certain to have Fenix disable the GPS tracking device.

Abraham Tower buried his face into the palm of his right hand. "Damn it...Log it as being destroyed." The commander decided to let Central City's newest hero to get away with the theft.

"Sir?" The soldier said, unable to believe that the commander was willing to overlook the theft of military equipment

While the loss of such technology would be considered a major issue, Abraham had already assessed that Fenix had no intention of using against the Federation and that the technology the armoured echidna had was far more advanced than what G.U.N. could produce. "It doesn't contain any valuable information and the cloaking device will burn out shortly. Besides, we owe him one." Abraham said dismissively with a smile and climbed into the passenger's side of the transport. The soldier nodded in agreement and saluted the aged man as in affirmation, before making his way to the back and joined his comrades.

As the truck started, Shade turned to the pink hedgehog "Amy, do you still have that suitcase that I asked you to hold on to?" The female echidna asked, after the last fight with Doctor Eggman and Amy had moved to Central City, Shade left a large suitcase with the pink hedgehog to look after because she slept in the women's barracks in Guardian Mountain and needed a safe place to store it.

"Um...yeah! It's in my wardrobe. Why do you ask?" The pinkette replied, wondering why the former Procurator was asking about it now.

Shade brought her hands together and set them in her lap, twiddling her thumbs. "I need to give it to someone and could I also trouble you for a lift to the airport?" She replied nervously.

The pink hedgehog's emerald green eyes lit up, knowing where this was going. "Ohh...it's a gift for someone eh?" Amy beamed, grabbing the hands of the echidna with tomato coloured fur.

"Ah...it's not what you think! I was just holding on to it!" Shade protested, getting flustered about being caught out.

Rouge slid over next to her successor on Team Dark. "Give it up sweetie, we already know who it is for." The former thief said playfully.

"Can we just go already?" Shade tried to look away and hide her embarrassment, causing much of the people in the back to laugh at the echidna's expense.

After charging his new acquisition and transferring complete control over to Chiron, the scarred Echidna changed his clothes and headed straight to Central City International Airport and purchased a new ticket. "Your plane will arrive shortly and depart from gate three. There may be some delay on take off though due to rain." The woman at the counter, handed over the new ticket after checking his passport, letting Fenix know that he didn't have long to wait.

"Thank you." He replied with a polite nod of the head and walked over to a seat in the departures lounge, opening a newspaper to pass the time, while most considered it to be an outdated form of getting information, there was something about the feel and smell of paper that handheld devices couldn't beat, additionally it was bio-degradable. 'G.U.N. should have arrested him by now.' Fenix thought to himself, flipping past the headlines which was about the recent attack on Central City.

Once being dropped off at Amy's, Shade and Rouge retrieved the suitcase and used the pink hedgehog's Volkswagen Beetle to get to the airport, fortunately enough, everyone was too busy returning back to the city to make sure that their home's weren't looted, leaving the roads to the airport relatively clear and meant that the girls were able to arrive before Fenix could board his plane. "There he is" Rouge gestured to the male echidna from the entrance to the lounge.

"Go for it" Amy said eagerly, giving Shade a gentle push.

The young woman fidgeted and managed to slip away from the pushing. "WILL YOU TWO PLEASE CUT IT OUT!?" She shouted, not taking too kindly at being rushed into things.

However, that was all Fenix needed to take notice of what was going on and looked over to see what all of the commotion was about. "Shade?" The male echidna closed his newspaper and walked over to the group, once he joined them, Amy and Rouge took a couple steps back to give the two echidna's some space.

"Ah...?" Shade held onto her left arm and kicked at the ground, before remembering why she wanted to come to the airport. "Here..." She presented an armoured suitcase to the scarred echidna.

Fenix opened the container and quirked an eyebrow. "My old armour?" He asked, surprised that she had such a thing with her. "You've been holding onto it for me? Why?"

She paused for a moment before answering, working up the courage to give him a reply. "You left it behind and I thought that you'd need it one day, I just didn't know when to return it to you." Shade played with her fingers nervously, hoping that he was mad at her for keeping the armour that he had discarded.

"I see..." He answered, processing her words carefully, already regretting the mixed signals he had been giving her and how complicated things were becoming now.

Finally gaining enough courage, the female echidna decided to try and convince Fenix to stay "You know you don't have to go...I'm pretty sure that the Commander will accept you back into active..." Shade touched his arm.

He pulled away and walked back over to his seat, just as water began to fall from the heavens. "I will not become a dog for the military, not again." Fenix stated, hanging his head in shame, after what he had been forced to do in the past, he didn't enjoy the thought of being ordered to commit such atrocities again.

"But..." Shade started, about to try and defend G.U.N. and its good intentions.

He raised his head up only slightly. "Besides, while everyone is too focused on fighting the Egg Army Remnants, people are suffering on the streets and someone needs to stand for them." While he did respect what the Freedom Fighters and the Guardian Units of the Nation were doing, their almost single-mindedness towards defeating the Egg Army was one of the reasons that the black market weapons trade was doing so well. "I know that you have feelings for me, however, I have enemies both inside and out of the boardroom that wish to do harm to me and to those that I care about, while I know that you can handle yourself just fine, I would not feel right putting you in that situation and if anything were to happen to you...I don't think anyone would be able to stop me from turning back into that monster..." The male echidna tried to let her down gently and let her know that getting involved with him was a risk and he didn't want to put anyone he cared about in danger.

"Fenix..." Shade was on the verge of tears, however, the former Nocturnus Procurator gently caressed her face in an effort to comfort her.

The echidna looked down, taking no pleasure in what he was about to admit. "Also it wouldn't be fair...because every time I look into your eyes, all I see is her...I'm just not ready..." He got to his feet and headed to the gate. "Not yet." He said, glancing back to her as his ticket was checked by the airport attendant at the entrance to the departures gate.

"I...I understand." Her mood perked up a bit, this meant that she still had a chance to kindle a relationship, unfortunately, she had to wait a little longer for that to happen, however, she was willing to wait for him. As Fenix got to onto his plane, Shade watched as the door to the aircraft closed. "I'll wait for you and try to win your heart." With those words, the airliner started off for the tarmac and it wouldn't be long before the male echidna was in the air and headed to his next stop, New Nocturne, also known to some as Future City.

* * *

Next on the Chronicles of Fenix the Echidna, The City of Night.


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